Blown and flameworked glass; woven, knotted and stitched glass beads and nylon string. A tall, composite sculpture of a colorless and opaque white glass stand with polychrome beadwork figures and woven pictorial beaded decoration. The scene represents the three white beaded Graces "dancing" around the exterior with a stylized pictorial representation of the burning of Los Angeles around the large glass stand. On the top, a small figure is throwing a "rock" down onto the grimacing head of Rodney King. The clear and opaque glass stand is tubular in shape with 3 protrusions or "arms" which support the figures of the three Graces. Many different colors and sizes of glass beads have been used, strung and woven on nylon string.

Joyce Scott uses glass beads to address topics such as sexuality, violence, and civil rights. Three Graces Oblivious While Los Angeles Burns was created in the wake of the beating of Rodney King by police officers in Los Angeles, and the citywide rioting that followed their acquittal in 1992. Beneath the head of an African-American, representing the victimized King, the three Graces—who symbolize gracefulness, peace, and happiness—turn their backs on a burning city skyline. For Scott, the choice of beads is intentional. Beadworking is traditionally regarded as a woman’s pursuit, and it is usually associated with jewelry and other decorative applications, especially in ethnographic and folk art. In Scott’s hands, the bead regains its currency, but it is a value that is symbolic rather than monetary.