Schwarm spent more than a decade documenting the controlled burning of the Kansas prairies, a seasonal practice in which fields are set alight each spring to clear old grasses and encourage new growth. Photographed across different times of day and night and at every stage of the burn, the images move beyond documentation toward abstraction. Schwarm has described discovering in the fire’s shifting forms and muted tones a sense of spirituality comparable to the color-field paintings of Mark Rothko, an influence visible in photographs that rely on palette, smoke, and atmosphere to convey meaning.
Rendered in dense color and texture, the series describes the landscape through imagery that oscillates between the abstract and the apocalyptic. Lines of fire cut through open fields, isolated flames punctuate darkened horizons, and smoke dissolves the prairie into bands of color. Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, critic Kenneth Baker described the photographs as possessing a “hellish glory,” noting that while the fires are controlled by humans, the images ultimately suggest an impersonal exchange of natural forces that operates beyond human presence.
