Edmond Keshishyan

In September 18, 2020 Bobcat fire in the foothills of Southern California decided to burn my house to the ground. In the aftermath I lost all my belongings, my artworks and my art supplies, but the greatest loss was the losing of my beloved dog and my friend Zangi, who despite having the choice of leaving the property decided to stay and protect it. That was my greatest loss. After the fire there was only a big pile of charred remains and rubble where my home used to stand. In the subsequent days and months I would go through the debris and look for any surviving items, however I found only melted pieces of glass and copper pipes and other items. Naturally I would be looking for anything with colour and shine then I would dig it out only to see a piece of burnt copper or melted glass and I would throw it back into the charred pile. I was desperate to find at least some remnants of something, anything. Then it hit me that the fact I am attracted to those pieces means I like how they look. In fact they looked like a custom made jewellery pieces. So long story short, I started to collect all those pieces instead of trying to find a familiar piece. I would spend many hours every day in the huge pile collecting “junk”. Many would look...