Ash, rubble and tragedy marked the 1991 East Bay Hills Fire that devastated parts of Berkeley and Oakland, leaving many neighborhoods and lives in ruins. Starting last Wednesday, the fire’s aftermath is on display in newly-released photography at the Berkeley Art Museum.
The exhibit features photography by Berkeley-based artist and UC Berkeley alumnus Richard Misrach, who surveyed the damage following the fire on Oct. 20, 1991 — which destroyed about 3,000 structures and killed 25 people, according to a document from the National Fire Data Center. Out of respect for the victims of the fire, Misrach waited 20 years to release the photographs.
Looking at a photograph of a pile of rubble — the remnants of a house — between front steps and an unburnt back deck, photographer and Oakland resident Bill Saul called the work “surrealism through transformation.”
“I think it should have been released sooner,” Saul said. “Pictures tell stories, and this is a documentary.”
Other photographs shows scenes reflecting the deep loss from the fire, including one of a melted tricycle amid debris and others showing signs for lost pets Sweet Pea and Alex.
Misrach gifted the collection of 33 photographs to the museum and made a similar gift to the Oakland Museum of California, which is running the exhibit simultaneously.
Community members, like San Francisco resident Norma Tannenbaum, have expressed their solemnity in remembering the fire. Tannenbaum said there was ash from the fire outside of her home in the southern end of San Francisco. Others left written reflections in an elegy book at the exhibit, meant to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fire.
The exhibit will be on display through Feb. 5, according to the museum’s website.
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