In 1971, Nancy Holt traveled to Summerland Key in Florida, where she made three silent 16 mm films: Garden of Nets, Mangrove Ring, and Road to Nowhere. All three Florida films are 2 minutes and 57 seconds in duration.
Still from Nancy Holt, Fire Film (1973)
16mm film; color, silent
Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York; distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

Still from Nancy Holt, Fire Film (1973)
16mm film; color, silent
Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York; distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York
Still from Nancy Holt, Fire Film (1973)
16mm film; color, silent
Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York; distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

Still from Nancy Holt, Fire Film (1973)
16mm film; color, silent
Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York; distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York
Still from Nancy Holt, Fire Film (1973)
16mm film; color, silent
Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York; distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

Still from Nancy Holt, Fire Film (1973)
16mm film; color, silent
Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York; distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York
Still from Nancy Holt, Fire Film (1973)
16mm film; color, silent
Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York; distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

Still from Nancy Holt, Fire Film (1973)
16mm film; color, silent
Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York; distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York
Still from Nancy Holt, Fire Film (1973)
16mm film; color, silent
Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York; distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

Still from Nancy Holt, Fire Film (1973)
16mm film; color, silent
Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York; distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York
Still from Nancy Holt, Fire Film (1973)
16mm film; color, silent
Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York; distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York

Still from Nancy Holt, Fire Film (1973)
16mm film; color, silent
Duration: 2 minutes, 57 seconds
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York; distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York
In August 1973, Nancy Holt made Fire Film in Amarillo, Texas, while working on Robert Smithson’s Amarillo Ramp with Richard Serra and Tony Shafrazi. The film records Serra and Shafrazi gathered around a small burn pile in a roadside ditch. The fire appears to be fueled by a red gasoline canister placed nearby. A rabbit moves through the brush, briefly entering the scene before retreating, and Holt follows these movements with her camera. Shafrazi approaches and lights a match using his thumbnail, and Serra later looks directly into the camera before the group returns to their station wagon.