Beauty Among The Ashes

On November the 8th, 2018, the sleepy artisan town of Paradise in Northern California was hitby the most devastating fire in California history, destroying over 150,000 acres, nearly 19,000structures, and claiming the lives of 85 people. It became known as the Paradise Camp Fire, andit decimated the entire community, leaving very little left but ashes and ruin. The entire worldnoticed.Several months later, an artist named Shane Grammer, who once lived in the area, knewand remembered his friends and family in the region, and he made a pilgrimage back to hisroots, with one purpose: To honor a friend of his, who lost everything. Shane painted a muralon the only thing that was left of his friend's house - a white chimney, barely standing in themiddle of the ruins of their dreams. The mural was called Beauty Among the Ashes and itsuddenly became the sole symbol of hope for the community who had not even begun to pick upthe pieces of their destroyed worlds. The media seized upon the story, and before anyonerealized it, Beauty Among the Ashes was a worldwide rallying cry for the town of Paradise.Hope existed. Even with such a fresh wound, the town, and the world beyond could see thatthere was hope on the horizon.