As I visited the burn scars in northern New Mexico with a cohort of artists and scientists participating in the Disturbance: The Art and Ecology of Change project, I inventoried and collected data on the plants emerging from the ground post-wildfire. I cataloged their names, researched their responses to disturbance, and investigated their biological traits. As a forager and plant medicine maker, I also focused my attention on the specific energies of each plant I encountered, attempting to tune into its individual nature and purpose within the system.
It fascinates me that after a wildfire, the first plants to surface are the medicines—those allies that have been used for millennia to heal the human species in times of trauma. Science tells us that these plants return first because they are often rhizomatic (spreading via roots beneath the ground), nitrogen fixers, or those special species adapted to disturbance. This is true, and yet the plants that emerge first from the burned ground are also those medicines used to treat burns and heal wounds, reduce inflammation, clear the lungs of smoke and toxins, restore moisture to the system, detoxify the organs, and prepare the body to bring new life into the world. I do not think it is a coincidence that these same healing qualities are needed in forest ecosystems after wildfire. Perhaps our human bodies and those of the mountains, plants, animals, and insects are not all that different after all.
The 12 paintings that make up Fire’s First Aid Kit attempt to honor both rational, scientific observation and the more intuitive nature of plant energetics and folk medicine. Because somewhere between science and intuition, we find understanding.

Globemallow (To Cool and Moisten the Organs), 2026
Oil and Wildfire Charcoal on Board
12″x9″

Fireweed (To Usher Waste Out and Good Bacteria In), 2026
Oil and Wildfire Charcoal on Board
12″x 9″

Mullien (To Clear Out the Lungs), 2026
Oil and Wildfire Charcoal on Board
12″x 9″

Prickly Lettuce (To Relieve Pain and Calm the Nerves), 2026
Oil and Wildfire Charcoal on Board
12″x 9″

Wild Rose (To Cleanse and Cool the Skin), 2026
Oil and Wildfire Charcoal on Board
12″x 9″

Yarrow ( To Stop the Hemorage and Draw Out Heat), 2026
Oil and Wildfire Charcoal on Board
12″x 9″

Dandelion (To Detoxify the System), 2026
Oil and Wildfire Charcoal on Board
12″x 9″

Cranesbill (To Treat Sores and Wounds), 2026
Oil and Wildfire Charcoal on Board
12″x9″

Spearleaf Stonecrop (To Clean the Womb After Birth), 2026
Oil and Wildfire Charcoal on Board
12″x9″

Red Clover (To Cleanse the Blood and Promote a Healthy Reproductive System), 2026
Oil and Wildfire Charcoal on Board
12″x9″