Burning Man — Remembering Rob

The Playa

Rob went to Burning Man almost every year from 2006 to 2015, camped with Fandango. Coffee in a French maid outfit, potato cannons built from SCUBA tanks, generator mesh networks that one friend quietly killed and never confessed to. His playa photos span a decade of dust.

A person in a white t-shirt, plaid skirt, and knee-high socks walking alone across the open playa toward the 2009 Burning Man temple, a towering organic lattice structure, with the Man figure on his tower behind it and desert mountains on the horizon.

Burning Man, 2009. The long walk to the temple. Plaid skirt, knee-high socks, the Man on his tower, and all that dust between here and there.

Sunset over the desert playa seen from under a shade canopy at the 4th of Juplaya burn, people silhouetted against golden light, mountains and low dust haze on the horizon, a pickup truck at the edge of camp. Face blurred.

4th of Juplaya. Sunset from under the shade — mountains, dust, golden light, and nobody in a hurry to move.

The 2010 Burning Man temple engulfed in massive flames at night, smoke billowing into black sky, the crowd a line of pure silhouettes along the bottom of the frame, a wire insect sculpture visible on the left.

Temple burn, 2010. The crowd is just a line at the bottom. A wire insect to the left that nobody’s watching. Everything else is fire.

Wide panoramic night shot at Burning Man 2011: a line of fire along the entire horizon, art installations silhouetted against the glow including a cloud sculpture lit purple, thick smoke and orange light filling the sky, tiny scattered figures on the playa.

2011. Fire across the whole horizon, a cloud lit purple, smoke where the stars should be. The kind of distance only the playa gives you.

Rob in a French maid outfit at Burning Man, serving tray with coffee, pink mohawk, desert setting — French maid outfit, pink mohawk, serving tray, desert. Coffee service at Burning Man. He took the role seriously.

Young Rob with pink-red hair and a tie-dye tank top, grinning and holding two white PVC pipe assemblies on the Burning Man playa, camp structures and a dramatic desert sky behind him. Scanned print with visible creasing. — Burning Man, late ’90s. A pressurized air gun built from PVC and a SCUBA tank. People could shoot potatoes at bowling pins from a hundred yards away. Ian: “Probably the most fun I’ve ever had bowling.” Read Ian’s stories →

Mayhem

His playa name was Mayhem. Badge on, double goggles, tube top, grin. His sister Lillith camped with him and Aleta during the temple build in 2012.

Rob in full Burning Man mode — tongue out, pulling down a lavender tube top, bandana cap, double goggles, hamming for the camera on the playa — Full Mayhem. Tongue out, double goggles, lavender tube top. This is who he was out there.

Rob shirtless with spiky orange-red hair and red crushed-velvet pants standing beside Lillith in a black chevron-print dress, a rainbow-striped trailer behind them on the Burning Man playa at night. — Burning Man 2010. Shirtless, red velvet, rainbow trailer behind them. Two years before they’d build a temple together.

Rob and his adopted sister Lillith standing close on the Burning Man playa at dusk — Lillith's head tilted toward Rob's shoulder, soft pale sky behind them — Rob and his adopted sister Lillith. Burning Man 2012, the year they built Greg’s temple together.

The Temple of Greg

Greg Junell died in 2012. Rob and their crew built a memorial temple at Burning Man — lattice wood, prayer flags, photos pinned to the pillars, and a poem: ‘He could speak to all, and all came away brighter.’ Rob photographed the whole thing — the build, the sunset gatherings, the night it all went up. It was built to burn.

When Greg died I took solace in Rob spearheading the Temple of Gregario out at Burning Man while I went to organize sound and DJ at Greg’s Service in Hanford. We divided and conquered often throughout the years— sometimes with heavy shit, and most of the time with delightful results. He gave me gentle hugs after my Geoff vs the Honda accident and was a strength to rely on in those early days after Greg’s loss and especially while we were getting Celebrate Greg together. We were able to burn the lantern together in Pozo. We all know past the sometimes brash exterior a big gooey heart the size of, well, the German Flag is in there 😉
— Geoff Hitch, full story · original on Facebook

The Temple of Greg standing alone on the Burning Man playa under a clear blue sky — a wooden gazebo with curved plywood walls, photos and mementos pinned to its pillars, a lattice roof of interlocking sticks — The Temple of Greg. Burning Man 2012.

Large man with a red beard and white bucket hat, wearing a fraternity sweatshirt and red shorts, standing on sand dunes with arms spread wide against an overcast sky.

Greg. The friend Rob built a temple for at Burning Man in 2012. Arms wide, dunes behind him, listening to Pink Floyd on an iPod.

A Burning Man memorial temple glowing golden against a dark night sky on the playa, stars visible overhead, a distant lit art car to the left.

Burning Man, 2009. Three years before Greg died, Rob was already photographing temples.

Close-up of wooden temple panels with three photographs of a bearded man with glasses pinned to the wood, a colorful handpainted poem below reading 'He shared both worlds,' and prayer flags overhead.

Greg on the temple panels — close-up, campsite, orange shirt. And the poem they wrote for him: ‘He could speak to all, and all came away brighter.’

Greg's memorial temple at night on the playa, the full moon rising through the open lattice roof, visitors gathered inside among photographs and tributes, 'JUNELL' visible on a panel, a bicycle and a glowing blue LED hoop at the entrance. Faces blurred.

Full moon through the lattice roof. A blue hoop glowing, a bike leaning, Junell on the panel. People inside just sitting with it.

Interior of a wooden lattice temple at night lit by deep red light, 'GREG JUNELL' written in large letters on a memorial board, photographs of a smiling man below, a painted rainbow artwork to the left, cloth banners hanging overhead.

Inside the temple at night. Red light on the lattice, Greg’s name in big letters, his grin underneath.

Close-up of photographs and handwritten notes pinned to a wooden temple panel — a bearded man standing in a golden field, a group photo, and a handwritten note with a heart, the playa visible through the lattice behind.

Pinned to the wood: Greg in a golden field, a group in the grass, and a stranger’s note — ‘Can’t say I ever played this game. Looks fun thou!’

Close-up of photographs and a handwritten note pinned to the memorial temple: a bearded man in glasses and a white hat taking a mirror selfie with a Canon camera, a black-and-white childhood portrait of a boy, a colorful group photo, and the words 'Eventually… He will… Be Free! …for Now!'

Rob titled this one ‘I love this shot.’ Greg in a mirror with his camera raised. A boy’s portrait below. ‘Eventually… He will… Be Free! …for Now!’

A wooden shrine at the 2011 Burning Man temple covered with rocks, wildflowers, photographs, and small keepsakes on green felt, with handwritten messages including 'There are no random raindrops — they all fall right where they should.'

2011 — a year before Greg’s temple. Same tradition, different names. ‘There are no random raindrops — they all fall right where they should.’

Burning temple remains in the foreground with bright orange flames, a lone figure standing in the smoky middle distance photographing, the main Burning Man temple barely visible through heat shimmer and thick smoke behind.

Through the flames, a photographer in the smoke. The main temple behind them. Everything they built is going.

A wooden memorial temple fully engulfed in towering yellow-orange flames and black smoke, the lattice frame still visible as it collapses inward, small figures on the playa in the background.

All of it — the wood, the photos, the poem, the notes — up.

Panoramic group photo of 30+ people holding yellow flags in front of the Temple of Greg at sunset on the Burning Man playa — The Temple of Greg crew. 30+ people, one friend remembered. Burning Man 2012.

The Temple of Greg during the burn ceremony — flames rising behind it, crew members walking through the burn site, the structure still standing — The burn begins. The crew walks through what they built one last time.

The Temple of Greg mid-collapse, engulfed in massive flames, silhouettes of watchers visible through smoke on the Burning Man playa — Built to burn. The Temple of Greg, released.

Temple de Cortez

Lillith and Rob also built a separate memorial at the official Temple de Cortez. They designed it with huge dowel rods so they could carry it like pallbearers — a mile and a half onto the playa, recruiting strangers along the way because it was so heavy.

The Temple de Cortez engulfed in towering orange-yellow flames and black smoke on the Burning Man playa at twilight, the wooden structure collapsing, distant silhouettes of watchers on the horizon. — Temple de Cortez, September 2, 2012, 8:51 PM. They carried it a mile and a half onto the playa as pallbearers, recruiting strangers as they went. This is the letting go.