Carbonarc by Perry Doane

July 2025, English, 9 x 13 in., 86 pages, risograph printing, silkscreened cover, screw post-bound
Edition of 200
Design: Perry Doane & Sming Sming Books
Printing: National Monument Press

Co-published with Sming Sming Books!

Perry Doane lives and works in Santa Rosa, CA, at the edge of the city's designated Wildland Urban Interface and within a mile from the Tubbs (2017) and Glass (2020) Fire burn zones. Carbonarc collects images based on photographs taken near his home and former workplace.

The images depict burnt trees and objects, as well as new growth appearing in the wake of the flames, manipulated through exposure, printing, and rephotographing. Interspersed are textural photos of wood panels, geometric interventions (bars, crosses, and junctions), and scans of linotype prints: abstract gestural interpretations of the scarred woodlands Doane is photographing.

Taken together, the images form a catalog and response to a life-altering first-hand experience of the effects of climate change, and the unprecedented mega-fires transforming California. Carbonarc is an individual reaction to and navigation through a community trauma, confronting our collective negligence while celebrating mutual resilience.