ABOUT SUSANNAH
Susannah Mills is an artist, End-Of-Life Guide and creator and curator of Life After Worlds Shift (L.A.W.S.), dedicated to the creation of residencies, exhibitions, lectures & workshops for artists affected by accelerating climate collapse. Her art and curatorial practice is directly connected to her work as a death doula, relating to the deep psychology of death and rebirth of life and spirit, and exploring the ways in which human relationships make life come into existence.
In January 7, 2025, Mills experienced the total loss of her home, art studio and community in the Eaton Canyon Fire. The result of this trauma gave her the gift of nothing to lose. Through an art grant she attended residency at BKN in Björkö, Sweden. Her work expanded from painting into large scale installations, use of new mediums, and learning how to sustainably make use of the elements of specific environments. Susannah became devoted to giving this experience to other fire survivors.
Her work as a painter, papermaker and collage artist derives from a stream of consciousness process resulting in symbolic, semi abstract imagery populated by spirit beings in dream landscapes and cities. Mills’ cites Hilma af Klint as one of her main inspirations. The residencies Susannah creates are specifically tailored to the individual and collective experiences of the attending artists. These experiences are similarly and deeply connected to nature, transmutation, and adaptation to changing environments.
Following her first stay in Sweden Mills created the Living After Worlds Shift artist residency (L.A.W.S.) in May, 2025, partnering with Stockholm-based artist and curator Anna Viola-Hallberg and New York-based artist Rick Gradone. Together, they brought thirteen artists severely affected by California wildfires back to BKN in September, 2025. For two months they collectively healed, formed a new artist community, and created work scalable for exhibitions. The success of this initial residency led to their second residency at Pilchuck Glass School with eight new artists who experienced extreme loss in the Eaton Fire. She is currently working with Swedish institutions, curators, and government entities to bring a third residency back to Sweden in the spring of 2027.