SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS, CALIFORNIA
What Fire Reveals is another Kitchen Sisters production about the CZU fire, which was created in collaboration with the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.
The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva) are award winning radio and broadcast creators for countless projects including NPR series Lost & Found Sound, The Hidden World of Girls, Hidden Kitchens, and their Webby Award-Winning podcast; ‘The Kitchen Sisters Present…’ which is part of the Radiotopia podcast network from PRX. Jim has worked with the Kitchen Sisters for many years as their sound designer and engineer for Lost & Found Sound, The Sonic Memorial Project, Hidden Kitchens, Hidden World of Girls and beyond.
The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH) is the home to rotating art and history exhibitions, visual performing artworks, public festivals, and educational programs. The collaborative exhibition between MAH and The Kitchen Sisters discovers historical objects, artworks, and stories from communities affected by the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fires.
On August 16, 2020, a thunderstorm caused wildfires to breakout around the region of Big Basin Redwoods State Park– a protected area of colossal trees that are thousands of years old. These fires would eventually combine to create the CZU August Lightning Complex fire. The devastating event pushed through 86,509 acres and 1490 buildings until it finally stopped on September 23. Lost & Found creates Santa Cruz County’s historical archive detailing the grave impact of this fire. The objects found by sifting through the ashes of ruined homes are helping tell the story of natural disaster as part of a distinctive visual and oral history.
‘There is something about the voice. There are [emotional] depths beneath the words that is not like the written word.’
https://www.santacruzmah.org/czu