Okefenokee in Flames #3

Frieda Dean

Frieda Dean employs color relief printed in fiery orange and red against a swirling, billowing background to convey the devastating Bugaboo Scrub Fire of 2007. What started as a single, smaller fire ignited by lightning in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia, it became the largest wildfire in the history of both states after merging with the Sweat Farm Road fire caused by a downed power line. In all, it lasted a month and consumed 116,000 acres of land, over twenty percent of which was a wildlife refuge.

Dean often confronts the theme of climate disaster in her work, with some works reflecting the subtler changes such as disappearing ocean life, and sometimes grappling with the more obvious incidents, such as wildfire. Yet in each work she approaches the composition with dignity, wishing not only to express the emotion of the human condition as it reflects such tumult, but to capture the attention of the viewer through powerful, beautiful imagery. This abstract piece is as much an ode to color, form, and movement as it is to our own delicate existence.