Landscape fire, tended landscapes, and renewal

5 nominations for the Prix Pictet Fire Cycle — Featured in the Guardian. — Research presented at Johns Hopkins,
Leverhulme Centre for Wildfire, Environment and Society & UK Association for Art History — Ten years photographing how communities live alongside fire.

Featured Work

Fire North: Book One — Fort McMurray Wildfire

Alan McFetridge, Speak to me of yourself first, 2016, from Fire North: Book One, a photographic project on the aftermath of the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire in Alberta, Canada.
Alan McFetridge, Speak to me of yourself first, 2016, from Fire North: Book One, a photographic project on the aftermath of the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire in Alberta, Canada.

In 2016, wildfire forced 90,000 people out of Fort McMurray, Canada, in a single day. This book is about what happened after, told through the people who stayed to rebuild.

Alan McFetridge, Speak to me of yourself first, 2016. © Photograph by Alan McFetridge from theFort McMurray wildfire aftermath, Alberta, Canada.

Fire North: Book One was made in relation to Fort McMurray | ᓂᐢᑕᐋᐧᔮᐤ | Nistawâyâw | Ełídlį Kuę́, within Treaty 8 Territory: the traditional lands of the Cree and Dene, and the unceded territory of the Métis people. I acknowledge my responsibility as a visitor, artist and witness, and approach this work in the spirit of respect, reciprocity and reconciliation.

Fire in Australia — Black Summer Bushfires

Photographs made during and after the Black Summer bushfires, set alongside ancient Aboriginal burning practices. Professor David Bowman describes these two kinds of fire, catastrophic and cultural, as opposite ends of the same anthropogenic fire story.

Alan McFetridge, view over Wadbilliga National Park, New South Wales, 2020, made during fieldwork after Australia’s Black Summer fires.
Alan McFetridge, view over Wadbilliga National Park, New South Wales, 2020, made during fieldwork after Australia’s Black Summer fires.

Alan McFetridge, view over Wadbilliga National Park, New South Wales, 2020
Made during fieldwork after Australia’s Black Summer fires, when fire moved through forests, national parks and atmosphere on a continental scale.

Made in relation to Yuin Country in south-eastern New South Wales and lutruwita/Tasmania, where fire carries long histories of land care, cultural knowledge and ecological responsibility. I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the continuing custodians of Country, and approach this work in a spirit of respect, reciprocity and learning.

Sensing Earth & Being Nature 2026

A public programme of exhibitions, artist-led workshops and ecological encounters across Holland Park and Parliament Hill, developed by Alan McFetridge with Justin Hibbs and Daisy Green Collection.

Photography from Summer Exhibition Holland Park, 2026 © Alan McFetridge

This programme acknowledges London’s parks are living landscapes shaped by deep time, ancient settlement, enclosure, empire, migration, public recreation and ecological change. These grounds carry many histories, including those often forgotten or made invisible.

Recognition

    • Nominated five times for Prix Pictet Fire

    • Featured, The Guardian

    • Finalist, International Marianne Brandt Award (Connectedness, Experiments on a New Relationship with Nature)

    • Nominated, Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year (Art and Science)

    • Royal Photographic Society Environmental Awareness Bursary

    • John Kobal Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, London

    • Published, Sophia Journal (peer-reviewed)

    • Research presented at Johns Hopkins University, Leverhulme Center for Wildfires, Environment and Society and the Association for Art History Annual Conference

    • Founder, Centre for Ecological Philosophy

Archive

Ten years, thirty projects, one throughline: what fire reveals about how we live with a changing world.

 

Selected Awards, Funding, Features, and Publications:

  • 2024: Judge for the Environmental Category, Association of Photographers, U.K.

  • Solo Exhibition at Lauderdale House, London, U.K.

  • 2023: Launch of the Centre of Ecological Philosophy and East London SuperLab, U.K.

  • 2022: Songs of the Dead, published in Sophia Journal, University of Porto, Portugal

  • Finalist for the Marianne Brandt Award, Germany

  • Nominated for the Falling Walls Breakthrough of the Year - Art and Science, Germany

  • 5 Nominations for Prix Pictet: The global award for photography and sustainability

  • 2019: Featured in The GuardianAfter Fire

  • Book launch for On The Line, Australia

  • 2016: Royal Photographic Society Environmental Bursary, worldwide