Nurtured Flames: The Medicine of Fire

An intergenerational exhibition by Meztli Projects featuring eleven Indigenous artists exploring fire as stewardship, care, renewal, and regeneration. About Nurtured Flames: The Medicine of Fire is an exhibition by Meztli Projects, presented at the Armory Center for the Arts, featuring new works created in 2026 by an intergenerational cohort of eleven Indigenous artists. Continuing Indigenous practices of collaborative art-making and learning, the exhibition explores the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and fire. Moving beyond the binary of "good fire" and "bad fire," the artists draw on Indigenous knowledge systems that understand fire as a force of stewardship, care, renewal, repair, and regeneration. Developed through dialogue with one another, as well as with Elders and culture bearers, the participating artists exchanged ideas, shared evolving works, and reflected on the distinct cultural perspectives of their communities. This collaborative process fostered artistic dialogue across generations while deepening each artist's creative practice. Together, the works challenge dominant narratives that frame fire primarily as something to fear or control. Instead, they present fire as a complex and generative presence that has long sustained Indigenous relationships with land, ecology, memory, and community. The exhibition features works by joel garcia, River Garza, Ishi Glinsky, Artemiza (Ciara Green), Adrienne Kinsella, Kenneth Lopez, Emma Robbins, Kimberly Robertson, Aanii Tate, Isaac Michael Ybarra, and Alexandria Ybarra. An exhibition by Meztli Projects, an Indigenous-based arts and culture collaborative. Organized by Armory Center for the Arts. Curatorial Advisor: joel garcia. Curatorial Direction: Taylor Bythewood-Porter, Director of Exhibitions. Exhibition Management: Danielle A. Hill, Exhibition Manager. Exhibition Support: Getty Marrow Undergraduate Internship Exhibitions Interns Lorna Cariaga and Emory Rodriguez; Meztli Projects Programs Intern Rihanna Barrera. Lead support for all Armory programs comes from the Perenchio Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Eastside Arts Initiative and the Los Angeles Visual Arts Coalition (LAVA). Exhibition public programs are supported, in part, by California Community Foundation and The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation.