Wedding to Fire

A group of people dressed in elaborate red, orange, and black costumes gather in a wooded outdoor setting for a theatrical performance or ceremonial event. One person kneels in a silver outfit, releasing smoke, while others wear flame-inspired headdresses, colorful accessories, and dramatic makeup.
Close-up of a performer wearing a red-and-black hooded costume with gold flame patterns, holding a bundle of thin red branches or decorative reeds near their face during an outdoor theatrical performance. Other colorful costumed participants appear blurred in the background.
An outdoor theatrical performance in a wooded setting, featuring a performer in a bright red costume, decorative crown, and patterned skirt waving a large orange-and-yellow flame-colored fabric. Several elaborately costumed participants sit in the background watching the performance.
Title
Wedding to Fire
Artist/Creator
Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens
Short Description
In a two-part ceremony held during the COVID pandemic, Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens vowed to love, honor, and cherish fire, choosing relationship with fire over fighting it.
Description
One ceremony took place privately at Earthlab in Boulder Creek and the other at Sagehen Creek Field Station in the Sierra Nevada. The wedding connects to the artists’ film Playing with Fire!, which links wildfire to climate change and to failures of government care and fossil fuel regulation. It belongs to the artists’ series of weddings to elements of the natural world, including the earth, the moon, the sun, and the fog.
Event Type
Performance
Date
2022
Location
Earthlab, Boulder Creek, California; Sagehen Creek Field Station, Sierra Nevada, California.
Geographic Scope
Site-Specific / Single Site
Climate & Ecology Themes
Climate Justice
Queer Ecologies
Discipline / Field
Arts & Design
Concepts
More-than-Human Relations
Ecological Domain / Habitat
Conifer / Mountain Forest
Redwood Forest
Audience / Engagement Type
Community
Methods & Approaches
Collaborative / Co-Creation
Rights
Rights held by artist or creator
Website
https://sprinklestephens.ucsc.edu/2022/08/04/wedding-to-fire/
Item sets
California Art & Climate Archive
UC Santa Cruz
Media
A group of people dressed in elaborate red, orange, and black costumes gather in a wooded outdoor setting for a theatrical performance or ceremonial event. One person kneels in a silver outfit, releasing smoke, while others wear flame-inspired headdresses, colorful accessories, and dramatic makeup.Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens, Wedding to Fire 1
Close-up of a performer wearing a red-and-black hooded costume with gold flame patterns, holding a bundle of thin red branches or decorative reeds near their face during an outdoor theatrical performance. Other colorful costumed participants appear blurred in the background.Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens, Wedding to Fire 2
An outdoor theatrical performance in a wooded setting, featuring a performer in a bright red costume, decorative crown, and patterned skirt waving a large orange-and-yellow flame-colored fabric. Several elaborately costumed participants sit in the background watching the performance.Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens, Wedding to Fire 3