Iranian artists Icy and Sot recently took off on another self-initiated mission, inspired by climate activist Greta Thunberg’s work and the worldwide environmental movement she has started. Using the vast Californian desert landscape as a dramatic backdrop for their work and activist’s impactful speech as an alarming wake-up call, Saman and Sasan Oskouei created a riveting video titled Our House is on Fire. 

“I want you to panic. I want you to act as if your house was on fire.” – Greta Thunberg

In some way turning Greta’s inspiring words into poetic reality, Icy and Sot built a frame of an archetypal home and set it on fire. Allowing for the untouched surrounding nature to be seen between the blazing framework of the house, the artists suggest looking at the wider picture in which the Earth is our only home. The video shows the reversed footage of their installation being swallowed by flames and crumbling to the ground, creating an illusion of burning pieces of wood rising up and forming the familiar structure. With Greta’s voice in the background calling upon civil disobedience and rebellion, the video has a compelling incentive undertone reminding us that the change is possible if we put pressure on those in power. Sasha Bogojev