Los Angeles Wildfire Survivors (L.A.W.S.)

The Los Angeles Wildfire Survivors Artist Residency (L.A.W.S.) is not simply a residency; it is a framework for artistic continuity, mutual support, and collective resilience—one that reinvests in trust, care, and hospitality while enabling artists to learn, attune, work, and share through times of ecological disaster. Our mission began after the Eaton Fire destroyed L.A.W.S. creator Susannah Mills' home and community. Mills was able to regain what was lost by carving a new path forward after receiving an art grant at BKN in Sweden where she experienced an incredible healing. There she met Stockholm-based curator Anna Viola-Hallberg, and together they created L.A.W.S. to pass this experience to other California survivors in need financially, artistically and emotionally. 

Each residency is specifically designed to support artists facing urgent displacement or disruption with the time, space, and support needed to restart their practice when it is most at risk. L.A.W.S. first residency took Mills back to BKN in Björko, Sweden, in fall of 2025 with thirteen artist fire survivors for a two month stay. Following, they brought eight fire survivors from Altadena, CA, for two weeks to Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington in the fall of 2026. The results have been incredible, giving artists new bodies of work, community, graduate school opportunities, and the means to regain financial footing. 

Built around the principles of community, healing, and artistic immersion, L.A.W.S. recognizes that one's practice is not only a form of cultural production but also a vital means of adaptation, and resilience. Rather than being tied to a single location, the residency operates nomadically, responding to emerging needs and forming partnerships with host organizations, communities, and cultural institutions. L.A.W.S. seeks to nurture and promote artists without the pressure of repair that is the byproduct of daily life after disaster. In moments of crisis and uncertainty, artists often lose not only physical space but access to the networks, stability, and support systems that sustain creative practice. Our organization responds by creating spaces and communities of artistic support that extend well beyond the residencies. We recognize that meaningful artistic work can flourish after trauma when people have access a world outside of disaster - one where community, reciprocity, and connection restore a sense of empowerment and the means to create anew.