The title references Aldous Huxley’s 1939 novel, ‘After Many a Summer Dies the Swan’, a dark satire about the fear of death, the grotesque pursuit of eternal youth, and the moral decay beneath Hollywood’s sunlit façade. Written during Huxley’s early years in Los Angeles, the novel offered a prescient critique of American consumerism, narcissism, and moral decay—criticisms that feel uncannily relevant in today’s accelerating ecological crisis.

In January 2025, wildfires swept through Los Angeles, transforming its iconic symbols and images of consumer culture into scenes of devastation: palm-lined streets reduced to ash, fast-food franchises burning beside luxury vehicles, and financial institutions left in skeletal ruins.

The artwork features a video still of a burning palm tree, etched in fine detail onto glass. As viewers draw close to examine the image, an infrared lamp gradually dims, casting a red glow across the surface and radiating heat that burns on the face. The glass glows with the memory of the fire and in the colors of things to come.