The Wedding Feast
An Iranian rug found on the street of Paris traversed the ocean during pandemic to arrive in Martinez, California. It drove up the coast and into the Redwoods for a wedding feast. The story of home continues in a new context, a new culture, a new daily celebration of love.
Alyssa texted me this summer in Paris and asked what I was doing with my rug during my transatlantic move... Alyssa is an artist. The romantic idea of having it at her wedding in the redwoods sparked the magic carpet ride across the world. I sprinkled dry lavender from the south of France over the surface and rolled up the colourful tapestry in a fury of deinstalling my thesis show at La Fondation Des Etats Unis. (*It could be an Olympic sport of tackling and stuffing rugs into suitcases.) For the first time in my life I knew the weight of all my belongings as I shipped bags with a one-way ticket back to Martinez, California.
We drove up to coast with the rug tied up in the trunk, anticipating its debut in America. Friends gathered and the celebrations began. Saturday we came to set up before the ceremony. Sun shone through the trees as the tapis unraveled onto green grass. The faint smell of lavender reminded me home is here and there. Corrie Mahr captured the moment perfectly and documented the wedding feast with light.
The weekend was a masterpiece because love is a masterpiece. I am passionate about the intersection of art and life: where communion and curation meet. Peter made sourdough loaves for the ceremony communion and music resounded in the trees. The poem “In Love” was inspired by the command to “put on love” in Colossians 3 and read during the ceremony. Weddings are practice for the feast being prepared in heaven. When we put on love, we wear it in a way that makes us essentially in love. I found this rug three years ago on the streets of paris with Elaine Greenwood, the friend who connected me to Alyssa. It’s a place maker and creates space for people to gather, rest, celebrate and share. We need to keep creating safe places of acceptance, belonging and exchange. Even in the in between seasons and spaces, there is always room to make home. Where can we keep unrolling the rug of community?
“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:14-16
Thank you to Alyssa & Santiago for making this a special arrival into America! Check out their full story here