Screen printed and machine embroidered and embellished fabric over a papier-mache form, 2019

24” x 54” x 76”

“With that Tita fled from the kitchen into the room where Chencha and Gertrudis were embroidering the sheet for the wedding night. It was a white silk sheet, and they were embroidering a delicate pattern in the center of it. This opening was designed to reveal only the bride’s essential parts while allowing marital intimacy.” This scene from Laura Esquivel’s book, Like Water for Chocolate, resonated with me and inspired this piece. In Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie, there is another sheet used to separate a doctor and his female patient. He examines separate body parts through the hole to make his diagnosis. The similarities between these sheets and the niqab are not lost on me. Worn by some Muslim women, the niqab is a head covering that leaves only the eyes visible. Brides also wear veils, though they have changed over the years. It is customary in many cultures to decorate a wedding bed. Mine is printed with verses from the Torah, the Bible (New Testament) and the Quran, all of which refer to the role of women. Much of what is accepted in society today is based in these patriarchal notions that have become so ingrained we never question their validity or authority, just like the underlying print of the fabric of the wedding bedspread.

Photo credits: Andrew Hinkle (image 1)

Rik Sferra (images 2-4)