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Better Ruins began as a journey. An unexpected gathering on the untouched shores of Cumberland Island. A dream that had existed for years. Two friend groups, once strangers, came together to share in a moment of creation, connection, and stillness. What made the experience possible wasn’t just the island’s natural beauty but the ruins. The Dungeness Mansion, once reserved for the elite, had been destroyed by a fire. In its destruction, it became accessible. Its wonder, once hidden behind wealth and walls, now belonged to everyone while remaining free from ownership. This moment revealed something essential: that ruin can be an opening, not an end. That in the collapse, something new can emerge.Better Ruins is also a personal statement. One rooted in my own life. I was born in a small town in Jalisco, Mexico, and my family left behind the adobe houses as a child. I was raised in the American South. My own American dream was lost while attempting to conform to a small rigid world that was expected of me. I was compelled to build a better life for my family. In that sacrifice and after the ruin, came something unexpected, the knowledge and opportunity to reimagine and construct a bigger and brighter life full of charm and creative purpose.From these foundations, Better Ruins was born, not just as a curatorial project, but as a way of seeing the world. It builds from what has been broken socially, culturally and personally. It asks: Why did it have to be ruined to become visible, to become shared? What can we imagine together that wasn’t possible under the structures that failed us? How do we make it better?The boundaries between past, present and future blur, allowing for the emergence of new possibilities and the re-enchantment of our shared reality. Have you seen Better Ruins? We have. And it’s our responsibility to build and create from them.- Sandra Escamilla
