Photo Book Ash 1
60” x 40”
Eaton Fire
2025
Photo Book Ash 2
60” x 40”
Eaton Fire
2025
Photo Book Ash 3
30” x 60”
Eaton Fire
2025
Photo Book Ash 4
40” x 60”
Eaton Fire
2025
Photo Book Ash 5
40” x 60”
Eaton Fire
2025
Photo Book Ash 6
60” x 25”
Eaton Fire
2025
Photo Book Ash 7
30” x 60”
Eaton Fire
2025
Photo Book Ash 8
40” x 60”
Eaton Fire
2025
Photo Book Ash 9
60” x 40”
Eaton Fire
2025
(1◦ 27.9’, 119◦)
60” x 100”
Byron Wilson
2025
(79◦ 16.0’, 204◦)
60” x 100”
Byron Wilson
2025
(26◦ 47.2’, 137◦)
60” x 100”
Byron Wilson
2025
( 12◦ 22.0’, 91◦)
60” x 100”
Byron Wilson
2025
32◦ 37.2’ N , 114◦ 21.0’ W
36” x 140”
Byron Wilson
2025
32◦ 37.2’ N , 114◦ 21.0’ W
42” x 36” (x7)
Byron Wilson
2025
32◦ 37.2’ N , 114◦ 21.0’ W
42” x 36”
Byron Wilson
2025
Sacred Plasticity: Improvising Black Aesthetic Philosophy in Void and Aftermath
In uncertain times we are forced to improvise in response to pressure. We propose Sacred Plasticity: Improvising Black Aesthetic Philosophy in Void and Aftermath, a photographic exhibition that renders depictions of wreckage as method. Extending a 2025 Sorbonne Université presentation, sacred plasticity names aesthetic knowledge as form’s capacity to endure rupture and keep generating meaning through weathering and collective perception.
Two image-based case studies anchor the work: on void, multispectral photographs (visible/IR/UV) of Michael Heizer’s Double Negative, and on aftermath, photographs of fire-altered remnants from an Altadena site after the 2025 Eaton Fire in Los Angeles, CA. One site is intentional subtraction while the other is ecological catastrophe. Read together, void and scar become living archival forms under pressure that refuse collapse as finality.
The exhibition draws on theory that fuses the mysticism of Howard Thurman and his ideas on luminous darkness, criticism on weathering, distribution of the sensible, and assembles by Adrian Piper’s hypothesis on artistic research as means of parsing acquaintance from description. Between void and aftermath, improvisation guides disciplined perception across ruin.
Chair, Dept. of Photography
ArtCenter College of Design
Co-Founder
Our Testimoonial inc.
everard.williams@artcenter.edu
Everard Williams is a photographer, educator, and Chair of the Photography + Imaging Department at ArtCenter College of Design. His work examines residue as evidence and monument. He transforms blown-out tire carcasses, 2-inch studio recording tape, and formed lead sheets into sculptural photographs that recast refuse as an archive.
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Visitng Scholar
Tufts University
Founder
Our Testimonial inc.
byron.wilson@tufts.edu
byron@ourtestimonial.org
Byron Wilson is a researcher, artist and writer whose work bridges photography, art history, and theological reflection, with particular attention to aesthetics and Black sacred thought. His practice treats slow attention and calibrated image-making as methods for understanding how sacred form unfolds over time.
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