Frieze LA 2025: Art, Activism, and the Will to Endure

By Natalie McCarty

In a city that has long been synonymous with reinvention, Frieze Los Angeles 2025 stands as an undeniable testament to the power of art, not just as an aesthetic pursuit but as a force of resistance, a tool for healing, and a source for renewal.

Image Courtesy of Frieze

Wildfires have reshaped Los Angeles, leaving devastation in the landscapes reduced to embers, but also in the displacement of lives, the loss of creative spaces, and the erasure of histories embedded in the city’s cultural fabric. However, fire, as destructive as it is, has never been the end of the story. From the ashes, a new Los Angeles is emerging, one that carries the weight of its losses while defiantly carving a future that refuses to be defined by them. And at Frieze Los Angeles, artists, galleries, and institutions have gathered to mourn and to rebuild. To fight. To remember. 

Recognizing the essential role galleries play in the survival of a city’s cultural ecosystem, Victoria Miro has opened their Frieze Los Angeles stand to other galleries, offering works for sale with all proceeds directed toward wildfire relief efforts. Art collectors from across the globe can also take part, as an exclusive selection of pieces is available in Frieze’s digital viewing room, ensuring that the mission of rebuilding extends beyond the walls of the fairgrounds and into the hands of those who believe in the future of LA’s artistic community.

Jemima Murphy’s ‘Life in Violet’

Masterpiece has stepped up by donating technicians and on-site services, ensuring that these efforts are not just ambitious but achievable. But perhaps one of the most moving projects of the fair is Land Memories, presented in partnership with the Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums. In the wake of the Eaton fires, the historically Black and culturally rich community of Altadena faces more than just physical devastation: it faces the threat of erasure. Land Memories is an urgent response, a project that does not merely document but insists on preservation. Through oral histories, photography, and immersive storytelling, it ensures that Altadena’s legacy is not lost, but carried forward, woven into the collective consciousness of Los Angeles.

With support from Google Arts & Culture and the LA County Department of Arts and Culture, Land Memories is a living record and a testament to survival. 

In a time of loss, art becomes an anchor. A language for grief. A declaration of hope. This duality is at the heart of the Grief and Hope Fund, established by White Label Editions. Forty artists, each deeply connected to Los Angeles, have contributed prints to support fellow artists and art workers who have lost homes, studios, and livelihoods in the wildfires. It’s financial aid, but it’s also a statement: Your work is vital, and it will not be lost. 

Tidawhitney Lek’s ‘Made in Cambodia’

Fashion, too, has become a vehicle for change. Rosetta and Violet Getty’s limited-edition T-shirt, available at Frieze’s Publications booth and online, transforms wearable art into direct action, with all proceeds supporting the  LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund. Maison Ruinart, through its Conversations with Nature series, collaborates with artist Sam Falls to explore the fleeting beauty of LA’s landscapes—capturing the shifting light, the delicate flora, the quiet but inevitable transformation of a city shaped by both destruction and resilience. Falls’ limited-edition collectibles, sold to support fire relief efforts, serve as both artistic meditation and tangible aid.

And at the Maestro Dobel Tequila lounge, every cocktail poured carries purpose, with proceeds supporting World Central Kitchen in their mission to provide hot meals to families displaced by the fires. 

Image Courtesy of Marka 27

Art has never been neutral. It is political. It is radical. It is a record of the world as it is and a vision of what it could become. The Frieze Los Angeles Impact Prize embodies this truth, honoring artists whose work confronts the most pressing social issues of our time. This year, the prize was awarded to Victor “Marka 27” Quiñonez, who’s sculptural and painted works highlight the economies of survival within Latinx street vendor communities, particularly in Corona, Queens. His work reclaims visibility for those who sustain their neighborhoods despite systems designed to erase them. His ICE Scream series—vibrant, neon-lit, resin sculptures—confronts the insidious presence of U.S. Immigration Enforcement, playing on the word “ICE” to highlight the extensions of the state that dehumanize undocumented Amiercans. 

Anthony Meier

The urgency of these themes reverberates throughout Frieze. Vielmetter Los Angeles has gone viral for its contributions, sparking conversations about the role of art in personal expression and intimate storytelling. Anthony Meier’s curation offers a stunning visual experience.

Rachel Whiteread’s interesting pieces, marked by absence and memory, became a talking point between Anthony Kiedis and I, who I bumped into in the gallery.

Wael Shawky

Anne Hardy’s works disrupt perception, while Wael Shawky’s breathtaking Gulf Project Camp (a carved-wood interpretation of a 1540 Persian miniature) transforms history into something visceral and immediate. Gorgeous work. 

April Bey in Vielmetter Gallery

Frieze Los Angeles 2025 is a declaration that creativity is not a luxury, it is a necessity. That in the face of destruction, we create. That in grief, we find expression. That in uncertainty, we imagine something new.

Los Angeles is a city that has burned before. It has been written off, underestimated, reshaped by forces beyond its control. And yet, time and time again, it has refused to be anything but alive. At Frieze, that spirit is undeniable. It is in the brushstrokes, the sculptures, and the installations that demand to be felt as much as seen. It is in the conversations that unfold between strangers in the exhibitions. It is in the knowledge that art does not merely document the world, it rebuilds it.

And here, in a city that will always find a way forward, art will always be the spark that reignites it.