Wedding to the Earth

Two smiling performers pose together in elaborate green, nature-inspired costumes with leafy headpieces, corsets, and flowing skirts in a redwood forest. One holds a tall branch while the other gestures with an open hand. The digitally layered artwork features luminous green foliage, butterflies, peacock-feather patterns, and mist, framed by a decorative blue and green border.
Performers dressed in elaborate green, nature-inspired costumes dance outdoors beneath towering redwood trees. Two performers wear flowing green dresses and leafy headpieces, while a third wears a green bodysuit with leaf decorations. Sunlight streams through the trees as other participants and spectators gather in the background.
A person with short dark hair blows iridescent soap bubbles through a bubble wand at an outdoor gathering. They wear a light green floral outfit, layered green beaded necklaces, and shiny gold arm cuffs, holding a green bubble solution bottle against a softly blurred background of trees and people.
Title
Wedding to the Earth
Artist/Creator
Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens
Short Description
Among the redwoods of Santa Cruz, Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens married the Earth before 350 guests in their Green Wedding #4, part of the artists’ ecosex practice of entering into committed relationship with the natural world.
Description
Guillermo Gómez-Peña officiated the 2008 ceremony, and twenty-six performance artists took part. Instead of gifts, the artists asked guests to help create the wedding, and 170 people volunteered. The work belongs to a series of weddings in which Sprinkle and Stephens married elements of the natural world, including the sun, the moon, and the fog.
Event Type
Festival
Performance
Date
2008
Location
UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California
Climate & Ecology Themes
Queer Ecologies
Discipline / Field
Arts & Design
Concepts
More-than-Human Relations
Ecological Domain / Habitat
Redwood Forest
Audience / Engagement Type
Public / General Audience
Methods & Approaches
Collaborative / Co-Creation
Rights
Rights held by artist or creator
Website
https://sprinklestephens.ucsc.edu/2008/05/17/wedding-to-the-earth/
Item sets
California Art & Climate Archive
UC Santa Cruz
Media
Two smiling performers pose together in elaborate green, nature-inspired costumes with leafy headpieces, corsets, and flowing skirts in a redwood forest. One holds a tall branch while the other gestures with an open hand. The digitally layered artwork features luminous green foliage, butterflies, peacock-feather patterns, and mist, framed by a decorative blue and green border.Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens, Wedding to the Earth 3
Performers dressed in elaborate green, nature-inspired costumes dance outdoors beneath towering redwood trees. Two performers wear flowing green dresses and leafy headpieces, while a third wears a green bodysuit with leaf decorations. Sunlight streams through the trees as other participants and spectators gather in the background.Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens, Wedding to the Earth 1
A person with short dark hair blows iridescent soap bubbles through a bubble wand at an outdoor gathering. They wear a light green floral outfit, layered green beaded necklaces, and shiny gold arm cuffs, holding a green bubble solution bottle against a softly blurred background of trees and people.Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens, Wedding to the Earth 2