Jessica Lanham
March 2025 | Albuquerque, NM
Since the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fires, Jess Lanham has been creating work about the stark changes in her hometown of Las Vegas, New Mexico, using fragments and wildfire ash.
Even while pursuing her undergraduate degree in Chicago and living in San Francisco for a decade, Jess Lanham found herself making work about her hometown of Las Vegas, New Mexico.
She was in California in 2022, watching from afar when the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fires ravaged the countryside near her home. The weight of that moment is etched in her memory. “It was such a raw experience for everybody, and, in so many ways, it still is,” she says.
Returning to New Mexico, Lanham spent the last two summers volunteering in the area, helping clean up toxic debris, building flood control structures, replanting native flora, and documenting the aftermath of the fires—bearing witness to the stark changes in the landscape.
As an artist, Lanham’s process begins with material—and on the burn scar she was confronted with acres of wildfire ash. “That’s the material that’s this constant reminder that this event happened,” she says. “If you go anywhere that the fire touched… it’s still there.” Lanham has incorporated the ash into all of her work since, along with other materials like charcoal, singed rocks, melted glass, gauze, and projected video.
The projections—zooming in on small details and out to wide views of the landscape—bring the place into focus with a presence that abstractions—like the acreage that burned or the cost of the fire—cannot. Lanham presents these works as Fragments: “they’re all these different fragments that I hear from people about how they see this place as home, or how it’s changed for them.”
Lanham is in the final year of her MFA at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and will present her thesis exhibition in March 2025 in a venue just up the canyon from Las Vegas, at a special site and a bespoke hour: the Dwan Light Sanctuary, at sunset.
In reflecting on her feature in Southwest Contemporary magazine, Lanham shared, “It’s an honor to be featured in Southwest Contemporary, especially for work that has meant so much to me—to create for myself, my home, and my community. I’m grateful to share it with a wider audience.”
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
1. This story was originally written by Natalie Hegert and published on March 7, 2025 in Southwest Contemporary magazine. @swcontemporary
https://southwestcontemporary.com/jess-lanham/
2. To learn more about the work of Jessica Lanham, please visit jesslanham.com
3. Stay connected with Lanham on Instagram by following her at @jesslan4
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