SEARCHING for belongings burnt and blackened by the Black Saturday bushfires has helped Alex Fettling slowly recover from the event that destroyed his home.An installation at La Trobe University’s Visual Arts Centre features 200 salvaged objects from 60 Sparrowhawk Road, where Alex lived.On February 7, Alex watched helplessly with his mother as their home burned down.His father, Neil, is a senior lecturer and co-ordinator in the School of Visual Arts and Design at La Trobe University’s Mildura campus, and has worked with him to present the exhibition.It was one way of responding to the disaster.“Alex called me that night and he was obviously fairly distraught,” Neil said.”Weeks later we continued to visit the site and talked about the project.”For Alex the experience of fossicking through the rubble has helped to deal with the grief.“One thing that survived was a book on a bookcase,” he said.“All the other books burned except this. It is The Book of Home Preserving and you can still read every page.“That is the centrepiece.”Neil said the installation was of blackened, charred and disfigured objects ranging from the utilitarian to the deeply personal.”It’s a challenge to look at these objects, especially for those that lost everything.“They might relate to fossicking through what was left. It’s about the regeneration process.”Clandestine will be opened tonight at 6pm and will run until February 14.