Indifference by Aron Michael Johnston

This painting was created in the winter and spring of 2018 and was inspired by the devastating wildfires that swept through the Columbia River Gorge in the summer of 2017. The combination of unabated fossil fuel consumption, a century of fire suppression, and the careless act of a single teenage boy caused a tragedy with both immediate and long-term effects that will be felt throughout the region for generations. While this painting was inspired by a single local event, it can be seen as an allegory for the effects the human relationship with the environment has at this moment in our history. The boy's casual, uncaring glance at the fire as he walks away holding the instrument of its inception, symbolizes the collective lack of will and relative indifference that humanity has exhibited when faced with the consequences of our way of life.