WHat is the Project?
Pali–Altadena Collective is a community-driven art and memory initiative created in response to the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. Founded by Palisades resident Luca Dal Bello, the project brings together displaced residents, students, artists, and families to preserve the places, routines, and shared experiences that shaped daily life before the fires.
Through hand-crafted miniature dioramas, oral histories, photographs, community storytelling, and participatory workshops, the project transforms personal memories into a living archive of collective memory and rebuilding.
The first exhibition, Rebuilding Memory: The Dioramas of Palisades, will take place at EMECO House in Venice, California, from May 31 – June 20, 2026, and focuses on Pacific Palisades. Future chapters and traveling exhibitions will expand to include Altadena and other fire-impacted communities.
Visitors are invited not only to view the work, but to participate in it—by recording oral histories for preservation through the Library of Congress and public library systems, creating memory keychains, contributing photographs, and adding miniature figures and stories to the evolving installation.
The exhibition is open daily from 12 PM – 6 PM and includes community programming, school visits, workshops, and gatherings throughout the run. Popular Palisades food trucks will also be on site during select events and opening celebrations.
School & Community Group Visits
RSVP Opening Reception & Meet the Creators and Founders (Limited Capacity)
May 30, 2026 at 5 PM
our mission
Our mission is to reconnect communities affected by the 2025 wildfires through memory, storytelling, art, and shared cultural experiences.
By preserving schools, homes, restaurants, gathering places, and everyday moments through miniature dioramas and community participation, Pali–Altadena Collective seeks to honor what was lost while helping communities heal and rebuild together.
The project is both archival and participatory: students, families, and displaced residents are invited to contribute oral histories, photographs, miniature figures, and personal memories that become part of a growing public record. Together, these works form a living archive that preserves not only physical places, but the emotional landscape of community life for future generations.
Through exhibitions, workshops, traveling installations, and educational programming, we hope to create spaces where remembrance becomes connection—and where art helps imagine a resilient future rooted in belonging, creativity, and hope.
School visit sign up
Bring your students, families, and community to experience the Palisades Collective exhibition through storytelling, workshops, oral histories, and shared memory. LINK
Our towns
Palisades and Altadena—two distinct towns united by the devastation of separate fires—now come together through shared memory, storytelling, and a collective vision to rebuild with resilience and art.
founder
Founded by Luca Hanazawa Dal Bello, this project began as a personal tribute to memory and has grown into a collective effort to preserve, heal, and rebuild through art.
Photo: Trish Alison Photography
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