Camas de Ceniza/Ash Beds (2026)

Camas de Ceniza/Ash Beds moves between Lake Michigan and the volcanic terrain surrounding Popocatépetl and Paso de Cortés, tracing relationships among body and weather, breath and ash, erosion and maintenance, memory and place.

Born in Mexico City and based in Chicago, Susy Bielak brings into dialogue two landscapes that have shaped her own life: the volcanic terrain surrounding Mexico City, where much of her family remains, and the shoreline of Lake Michigan, which has been her daily horizon for the past thirteen years. The work explores inner and outer weather, visualizing the interwoven strata of bodily, environmental, social, and political life.

Drawing from long-term investigations into geological diagrams, bathymetric maps, hazard maps, retinal scans, and other scientific image systems, Bielak considers accumulation, instability, and the material traces left by environmental, political, and personal forces.

Developed over three years through research, travel, fieldwork, and studio practice, the project was deepened through dialogue and collaboration with Mexico City–based artist Nuria Montiel. Later fieldwork at Paso de Cortés brought Bielak's longtime collaborator Fred Schmalz into the conversation. References spanning the monitoring of Lake Michigan and records of Popocatépetl's exhalations circulated between the artists, revealing unexpected correspondences between distant geographies and lived experience.

Bringing together paintings on amate paper, visual poems, suspended broom forms, volcanic ash, window drawings, needlefelt works, and photographs documenting temporary actions, Camas de Ceniza / Ash Beds considers how we navigate uncertainty and create moments of care, protection, and temporary order within shifting conditions.