Editor’s Note: This story is part of Newsmakers, an ARTnews series where we interview the movers and shakers who are making change in the art world.
Earlier this month, as wildfires swept through Los Angeles, American Artist was busy installing their latest exhibition 2,500 miles away, at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn. Their show, “Shaper of God,” explores the life and work of science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler, known for her novel Parable of the Sower. This seminal 1993 novel is set in a Southern California ravaged by climate catastrophe, fires, and social inequality.
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Artist discovered Butler’s work in college and found shared connections between themselves and her. Both attended John Muir High School in Pasadena, and Artist grew up nearby in the historically Black neighborhood of Altadena, where Butler lived until 1999. Artist’s sculptures, installations, and video works explore the world in which Butler was writing, grounded in Southern California in the 1980s and ’90s.
As the show opened, the Eaton Fire had burned over 14,000 acres and destroyed over 9,000 structures in Altadena, Pasadena, and nearby areas. Artist described “Shaper of God” as a “celebration” of the area, creating a surreal experience due to the recent fires impacting the region.
ARTnews interviewed Artist over Zoom to discuss the connection between themselves and Butler, the importance of understanding the author’s context, and how to heed Butler’s warnings.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.
ARTnews: This show is opening amidst ongoing fires in Los Angeles. How has the impact of the fires on your hometown influenced your work on this show, which is directly connected to climate catastrophe?
American Artist: The places I’m discussing in the show are in the areas affected by the fires. It’s surreal because I grew up there and now many places from my past have burned down. The show is a celebration of that place, and the recent events add depth to people’s experience of the work.
Artist emphasized that the show focuses on possibility rather than overwhelming grief related to climate change. The work explores survival tactics and opportunities for Black communities in California, drawing parallels to Butler’s family history and the themes in her novels.
The show demonstrates a collapsing of space between Artist and Butler, reflecting on survival strategies and creative responses to challenging circumstances.
Butler Papers: mssOEB 1-9062: Local Documents, 2025, where you literally retrace her life page by page, or between past and present in Estella Butler’s Apple Valley Autonomy, which combines Butler’s grandmother’s chicken coop with the author’s archive. There’s also the space between fantasy and reality, as in To Acorn, which blends the LA bus stops Butler used with references to her imagined community from Parable of the Sower. Is the collapsing of these binaries intentional?
The collapsing of these binaries was a conscious choice. A lot of my work involves putting A and B together to show a third thing, often through time by collapsing past and future moments. This is done to illustrate the patterns of history and how they align with Butler’s process. It’s a way to show the potential outcomes if nothing changes. I also aimed to showcase how much of Butler’s work is a reflection of her lived experience and environment. Many readers of her books don’t have the same context, so I wanted to delve deep into the process of an author whose work encompasses their entire life. This process is often taken for granted.
In the monograph accompanying the show, it is mentioned that studying Octavia Butler’s process taught me to use history to accurately describe future challenges and move past simplistic what-if stories. When we position Butler within traditional science fiction contexts, we may miss the deeper story of her life beyond her novels. Butler as a person has a rich narrative that extends beyond her written work, and it’s important to give context to major artists to understand their process and background.
No one lives or works in a vacuum, and understanding the context of individuals is crucial in appreciating their work. Butler was known for her meticulous research and attention to various phenomena, which informed her speculative writing. Her stories, often violent and destructive, serve as warnings about potential futures, prompting us to consider how to prevent recurring cycles of destructive events.
Arroyo Seco, created in 2022, discusses fires as a natural part of the area’s ecology and the consequences of removing certain plant materials. The show’s focus on Southern California fires and ecology reflects my attempt to adapt Butler’s process by highlighting the urgency of addressing environmental issues.
Community plays a significant role in the exhibit, from the reading room framing video works to the Earthseeders enacting the rocket test in The Monophobic Response. The emphasis on community underscores the interconnectedness of individuals in addressing societal and environmental challenges. Do you view creative production as a collaborative effort?
In recent years, I have been gradually involving my friends more in my creative process. While I still hold the primary decision-making role in determining what I want to do, I have collaborated with a designer friend on a monograph and another friend who is well-versed in film production on my video works. It’s rewarding to have connections that go beyond a professional or practical level, where I can appreciate my friends‘ perspectives and contributions to the project. I am making an effort to engage more with other artists who are at a similar career stage, despite the challenges of their busy schedules and individualistic mindsets prevalent in the art world.
In my work featuring the films Arroyo Seco, Christopher Donner, and Alicia Catalina Godinez Leal, the characters critique the idea of space programs consuming excessive resources, echoing themes from Gil Scott-Heron’s „Whitey on the Moon.“ This anti-space exploration sentiment, though not new, remains a radical stance in a field dominated by pro-space narratives. Authors like Octavia Butler have challenged the intentions behind space exploration, questioning who benefits from these endeavors and highlighting the exploitation involved.
Butler’s work subverts traditional science fiction by emphasizing that the future lies in addressing present-day issues rather than idealizing space travel. This perspective is reflected in my artistic practice, where I explore the complexities and imperfections of our current society and its potential future.
In my project „The Monophobic Response,“ I utilized AI software to generate content, including Midjourney, a platform known for controversially using artists‘ work without permission. While my choice of platform was initially arbitrary, I aimed to challenge the typical output of AI-generated content by using it in unconventional ways, such as imagining historical spaces like Butler’s grandmother’s chicken coop.
While my earlier works critique technology and its impact on society, my recent projects aim to challenge the ideologies behind technology use. By using AI and other technologies in unexpected ways, I seek to provoke thought about the beliefs and biases inherent in our technological systems. My practice is not anti-technology but rather aims to interrogate and understand the effects of these systems on individuals and society as a whole. Ich wollte diese Ideen zur gleichen Zeit festhalten.
Es scheint, als gebe es etwas Optimismus oder Hoffnung in der Neuinterpretation dieser Technologien, dass sie vielleicht nicht von Natur aus schlecht oder destruktiv sind, sondern dass es die Menschen sind, die sie nutzen und wie sie sich entscheiden, sie zu nutzen.
Es ist kompliziert. Ich glaube nicht, dass sie von Natur aus schlecht sind. Aber der Kontext, in dem sie arbeiten, ist derselbe Kontext, der ihre Entwicklung beeinflusst. Je weiter wir in der Zeit voranschreiten, desto mehr werden diese Werte eingebettet. Ich glaube nicht, dass wir [diese Technologien] loswerden, aber wir haben die Möglichkeit, die Werte, die in sie einfließen, zu hinterfragen. Ich mag es nicht wirklich, viele dieser Technologien zu befürworten – und ich sehe [The Monophobic Response] nicht als eine Befürwortung von Raketen. Vielmehr wollte ich über die Menschen nachdenken, die von Elon Musks Vision ausgeschlossen sind und was ihre Beziehung zur Raketenforschung ist.
„Shaper of God“ ist bis zum 13. April in Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn zu sehen.