The Cigarette Box Project by Angel Lesnikowski transforms discarded cigarette boxes into miniature landscapes rich with history and meaning.

Although Lesnikowski has never smoked, they have long been fascinated by cigarettes—their ritualistic nature, their slow destruction of the body, and the intimate culture that surrounds them. Many of their loved ones were smokers, and they found comfort in the routine. Whether sitting alongside their father, grandmother, coworkers, or friends, Lesnikowski often observed the quiet moments of reflection that smoking provided. They began collecting empty cigarette boxes—USA Light 100’s, Marlboro Red and Black, Newport Menthol, and, most notably, Seneca Silver 100’s—from anyone willing to give them away. The Seneca Silver 100’s became the most significant part of the collection, with over 600 boxes gathered since 2022, all from their grandfather-in-law.

The decision to paint western desert landscapes on these boxes was inspired by the Seneca Silver 100’s packaging itself. The design, an understated monochromatic mountain lakeside, appeared to Lesnikowski as a kind of miniature world, a space waiting to be filled. Each box was sealed with remnants of its past use inside, then coated with gesso, preparing the surface for oil paintings of desert landscapes.

The desert holds deep personal significance for Lesnikowski. Their father, an archetypal cowboy, spent much of his life on horseback, traveling through the great American deserts. Their mother, an Assyrian woman from Iraq, was raised in the Middle Eastern desert. Though the family settled in Fresno, California, in a suburban neighborhood with modern comforts, their household was shaped by a survivalist mentality. Water was precious, food was stockpiled, and an ever-present sense of unease lingered as if a disaster were always imminent. Lesnikowski came to associate the desert not only with resilience but also with an underlying sense of fear, a psychological landscape as much as a physical one.

Beyond their personal history, Lesnikowski’s choice to paint the western deserts of America carries a broader awareness. The land they inhabit is stolen land. Seneca is a Native American-owned cigarette brand, a name that serves as a reminder of historical loss. Since the arrival of settlers, tribal nations have lost nearly 99% of their land through forced migration, treaty violations, theft, and devastating government policies designed to dismantle Native sovereignty and culture.

With this in mind, Lesnikowski has painted hundreds of desert scenes from the Great Basin, Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts. Over time, the process has become instinctive, more than 80% of the paintings are imagined dreamscapes, places that do not exist yet feel real, seamlessly blending into the visual language of the desert. Through The Cigarette Box Project, Lesnikowski reclaims discarded objects, transforming them into spaces of memory, history, and quiet reflection, where the personal and political, the intimate and the vast, converge.