California Wildfire: A Visual Language for Environmental Storytelling
Printmaking
Role
Printmaker, Visual Designer
Wildfire is a series of handmade prints developed into a visual storytelling system about the ecological impact of wildfires. I used printmaking techniques including relief printing, etching, and screen printing to explore their intensity. The series was later adapted into a digital campaign prototype and motion-based social posts.
This project taught me how the physical processes of printmaking can support emotional and environmental storytelling. Carving, pressing, and inking became metaphors for the destructive and transformative force of wildfire. Smudges, ink spills, and other unexpected results helped convey the subject’s unpredictability.
I also learned how to develop a consistent visual language from an open-ended process. Repetition, texture, and tone connected the individual prints and gave me a basis for translating them into a digital campaign. The project showed me how a personal artistic process could inform a broader public-awareness narrative.