It\u2019s been just over a year since 16,000 homes and structures were destroyed in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena fires in Los Angeles back in January 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Among those affected is Cal State Fullerton art education alumni Mia Aghili, who chose to turn her devastation into inspiration by using her art to express her grief from losing her home in the Altadena Eaton fire.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2025, Aghili was featured in the CSUF art exhibit \u201cScars and Endurance\u201d which ran from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1, displaying her art that depicts her experience with the loss and struggle in losing her home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before the fire, Aghili was unsure of her future after graduation, but after losing so much in the fires, she had the strength to focus her attention on creating art from this experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got to focus on applying to residencies, applying for the show,\u201d Aghili said. \u201cIt gave me a purpose and a focus.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In her search for residencies, Aghili found the Firefly residency with Blue Roof Art. Blue Roof is an organization that aims to give residencies to female artists, allowing them access to a safe work space and giving access to the proper resources.<\/p>\n
The Firefly residency was created to help support artists who were personally affected by the LA fires. It is an eight-week program that provides artists with a studio space and covers the cost of materials.<\/p>\n
Mary Anna Pomonis, an associate art education professor at CSUF, was one of the major influences in inspiring Aghili to focus on her artwork and apply for the exhibit and residency. Pomonis lost some of her artwork in the LA fires and was in the Firefly residency herself from July to August 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think one of the biggest struggles for artists at a school is studio space,\u201d Pomonis said. \u201cShe probably is the youngest artist to ever even try to apply for a scholarship or a residency there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pomonis\u2019 experience in the Firefly residency introduced Aghili to the program and motivated her to apply for herself. Aghili expressed how important it was to have Pomonis and her support while they grieved their respective losses from the fires, but continued to pursue their art.<\/p>\n
Logan Martinez, a second-year photography and experimental media major transfer, expressed the importance of having these types of residencies for women in the art scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially in the art space, it\u2019s still very, very male dominated,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cThe residency specifically highlighting women artists is not a minor thing, but a very amazing thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martinez played a role in curating and assisting Aghili in setting up her October exhibit alongside fellow peer Catherine Montoya, a third-year art education major. Montoya felt very impacted and inspired by Aghili\u2019s perseverance, passion and the powerful emotions her art inflicted on other people.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer art-making process was so interesting to me, because even though she had gone through so much, she was still using that pain and trauma and challenging all of that, all of her feelings, into making something beautiful for people to see,\u201d Montoya said.<\/p>\n
Despite the setbacks and devastation the fire left behind, Aghili has never let it stop her from pursuing her passions and propelling her success. Aghili\u2019s main goal with her art is to inspire and help fire victims find community and solidarity within each other. She wants to bring recognition and attention to the effects of the fires that are still ongoing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they could just feel a fragment of what\u2019s been going on, then I’ve done what I need to do,\u201d Aghili said.<\/p>\n
Amidst an ongoing battle recovering from the fires, Aghili\u2019s perseverance in the face of so much loss is inspirational and seen clearly through her art.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still living through it,\u201d Aghili said. \u201cFor some people that was just a news cycle, but for me, it\u2019s been every week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aghili\u2019s Firefly residency at Blue Roof will begin this summer from May through August 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been just over a year since 16,000 homes and structures were destroyed in the Pacific Palisades and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3265,163,165,164,2308,5592,74742,1839,53585],"class_list":["post-151198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-alumni","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-art","tag-feature","tag-la-fire","tag-palisades-fire","tag-profile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}