Multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker Kira Burksy didn’t sleep well the night Hurricane Helene hit. Instead, she sat wide awake as 90-mile-per-hour winds toppled mighty oaks and power lines around her Greenville, South Carolina, home.
“This was just the beginning,” says Bursky, who grew up in Asheville and whose family still calls these mountains home. “In the days that followed, I began to discover the immense gravity of what had just happened. I began to see surreal pictures surfacing online, and friends started sharing shocking stories of loss and tragedy.”
To process the event, Burksy started drawing black-and-white scenes of shadowy figures escaping floodwaters, tree branches piercing roofs, and cars marooned on hilltops.
“The art I drew was inspired by a mixture of my emotions as well as the stories and imagery I was seeing around me in my community and on social media,” says Bursky. “Honestly, a lot of what I was seeing felt unfathomable. I had never experienced firsthand such destruction and widespread tragedy around me.”
This winter, Bursky’s drawings will be on display as part of a traveling solo exhibition aptly named Hurricane Helene. The show will include stops at several Western North Carolina venues, including the West Asheville Library and the Transylvania Community Arts Council in Brevard.
Bursky hopes her images will help others process trauma lingering from the storm.
“I hope those that went through Hurricane Helene or other experiences of unexpected tragedy and devastation feel less alone in their complex feelings of grief,” says Bursky. “I hope my community feels their story is being told and that they are not forgotten.”
Kira Bursky, Greenville, South Carolina, allaroundartsy.com. Hurricane Helene runs at the West Asheville Library (942 Haywood Rd., Asheville) from January 16-February 27 with a public reception on Thursday, January 16, 6-8pm. Her exhibit will also be on display at the Transylvania Community Arts Council (349 South Caldwell St., Brevard, tcarts.org) from January 16-February 16 with a public reception on Friday, January 17, 5-7pm.