One Year After the Fire: Jasper’s Resilience Shines Through Storytelling and Creative Expression

^{Art by Greg Deagle, Stories of Resilience – Voices from Jasper Participant. Aftermath, from the Flames of Change series, made using traditional inks mixed with real pine soot from the Jasper Wildfire.}

JASPER, Alberta, July 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- One year ago, a devastating wildfire swept through Jasper, burning more than 33,000 hectares. The evacuation of over 20,000 people (5,000 residents and 15,000 visitors), along with the loss of 358 structures, marked one of the most disruptive events in the community’s history. But the aftermath of such an event left more than physical scars. Its impact is felt not just in what was destroyed, but how a community comes together to heal, remember, and begin again, as shown in The Resilience Institute’s new exhibition and online feature, Stories of Resilience – Voices from Jasper – Year 1.

Voices from Jasper brought together residents from diverse backgrounds to explore healing, change, and resilience — for self, community, and the land — in the aftermath of the wildfire and during a time of a rapidly changing climate. Since February, the group has met in a series of workshops and conversations, walking fire-damaged landscapes, engaging in storytelling, and confronting the complexities of recovery. Through these shared experiences, they created original works that speak to what it means to endure loss, adapt to change, and seek renewal.

“As wildfires become more frequent and severe, these stories remind us how to live through disruption, how to stay grounded in uncertainty, and how to care for ourselves, for one another, and for the land that sustains us.”
– Brooklyn Rushton, Jasper Resident and Strategic Adaptation Fellow with The Resilience Institute

These pieces, whether written, visual, or photographic, form a multi-layered narrative of post-wildfire recovery. They are expressions of personal healing and reflections of a community navigating the broader realities of a changing climate and environmental disruption.

“Eventually, we came to understand that resilience is not just about facing and overcoming obstacles head-on. It’s also about learning to embrace the vulnerability that comes with hardship. It means recognizing our own pain and losses and slowly relearning how to navigate through them. Resilience is falling, resting, healing, and getting back up again, when you're ready. It’s refusing to give up, no matter how long it takes.”
– Clara Adriano, Voices from Jasper participant

The outcomes of their journey, including written stories, visual art, and photographs, will be shared in a public exhibition from July 25 until August 16, 2025, a date that commemorates the community’s return after evacuation. Voices from Jasper compilation is also available online at: https://bit.ly/4kKFyiV

Voices from Jasper is part of Stories of Resilience, a signature program of The Resilience Institute. To explore the journeys of our Stories of Resilience communities, visit: resilienceinstitute.ca/stories.

Stories of Resilience is a thematic learning journey that brings people together to explore what resilience means in the face of local and global climate risks. Through workshops grounded in cultural and community perspectives, participants reflect on adaptation and share personal narratives paired with visual art — paintings, photos, sketches — that highlight common themes and amplify diverse voices. This growing collection of stories offers a shared understanding of the climate crisis, allowing audiences to see themselves reflected in the experiences of others.

The Resilience Institute is a charitable organization based in Canada that partners with communities, academia, government and businesses from coast-to-coast-to-coast to minimize suffering caused by climate impacts. Our approach to programming involves applied research, and delivering participatory informed education — knowledge that is co-created and is most relevant to the people and communities we serve. For more information about The Resilience Institute, visit TRI’s website.

Media Contact:
Meaghan Nikolic:
Meaghan.Nikolic@resilienceinstitute.ca
+1 825 570 0431

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9bd440db-20fc-4143-bd69-f07de25e1d0a

Aftermath

Cover art by Greg Deagle, Stories of Resilience – Voices from Jasper Participant. Aftermath, from the Flames of Change series, was made using traditional inks mixed with real pine soot from the Jasper Wildfire.

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