Visualizing the Pyrocene: The Wildfire Timeline

Yekta Tarki (she/her) is originally from Iran where she received her BFA and her first Master’s Degree in Fine Art at the Tehran University of Art. She came to Canada in 2023 where she explored the visualizing the pyrocene, addressing climate change through art and posthumanism at the University of Calgary and earned her second Master’s Degree in Fine Art. She now resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Yekta explores the relationship between humans and nature amidst environmental crises through her drawings and paintings. She focuses on disasters caused by climate change, and over the past two years, she has investigated the phenomenon of wildfires, specifically the Fort McMurray wildfire in Alberta, Canada. Her artworks draw on scientific data to represent the timeline of the wildfire, from its onset to its aftermath. Through abstraction, Yekta translates the wildfire’s timeline—from ignition to aftermath—into visual form. Shapes, lines, and colors become expressive tools that reinterpret fire, encouraging viewers to observe, imagine, and construct meaning through their own emotional and intellectual responses.