When I think of “The Holiday Season”, I mostly have vivid childhood memories of feeling like an alien whose family didn’t have any traditions around decorating Christmas trees or lighting the menora; no memories of eating potato latkes or a Christmas ham, nor waiting in line to go sit on Santa’s lap.
Growing up in Arizona as an Iranian immigrant with moderate Muslim parents meant “The Holidays” became this time of year where the intoxicating displays of pageantry, consumption and revelry would tease and taunt me from every neighbor’s yard, every tv commercial and of course the neighborhood mall. The “Holidays” brought me deep feelings of not belonging, as well as a major case of FOMO.
Fortunately, my parents gave into my yearly campaigning to “get with the holidays” program and by the time I was in middle school, my siblings and I finally had the Christmas tree, gifts and stuffed stockings to look forward to (even if my family didn’t believe in Santa Claus).
Holiday dinners for us meant aromatic Persian home cooking like Ghormeh Sabzi or Khoreshteh Geiymeh and the iconic Tahdig crusty rice. If we were extra lucky, we might get my mom’s Sholeh Zaard (Saffron Rice Pudding) for dessert.
This memory of celebrating Christmas as Iranian Muslims, while eating traditional Persian food, is to me the epidome of where contemporary immigrant and Indigenous cultures have blended with traditional Eurocentric Judeo-Christian traditions to create today’s modern US culinary holiday traditions.
CONCEPT AND INSPIRATION FOR HOLIDAY FOOD ART INSTALLATION:
It is with this memory and lived experience that I was inspired to dedicate my current window art installation to honor some of the immigrant, Indigenous, and Black holiday food traditions of Los Angeles, a place I have called home now for a decade.
At a time when most of us cannot gather with our family and friends to share a holiday feast, it only seemed fitting that I should bring the “holidays” to my very intersectional and diverse community in the form of a technicolor feast for the eyes and soul.
As a hybrid visual artist/cook/storyteller with a strong social justice ethos, creating a multi-media window art installation at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica gave me the opportunity to challenge and flex all my skills and tell a story that many of us can relate to.
After doing some very unscientific research by holding some polls on my social media, I decided to focus on the following holiday dishes for my art installation: Tamales, an “Indigenous” Turkey, Matzo Ball Soup, Egg Rolls, Dumplings, New Year’s Gumbo, and a glorious Rainbow cake for dessert. Before my fellow Iranian/Persians ask me where the Sabzi Polo Mahi, Tahdig and the Aash Reshteh are….don’t worry..I got you covered in my Nowruz installation.
The Goddess of the Holiday Feast:
GODDESS OF THE HOLIDAY FEAST by Parisa Parnian
It is important for me to honor and acknowledge some of the matriarchal and pagan traditions that are the origins of what we know today as “The Holidays”. With that in mind, I envisioned the Goddess of the Holiday Feast to preside over the Feasting Table (which is also set up as a sort of altar.)
This Goddess is all about abundance, joy, sensual pleasures and the nourishment of our bellies and spirits with a splendid table of glorious culinary delights. She has four arms that allow her to both serve others the feast while also feeding herself. She symbolizes the balanced feminine that is both a giver and source of nourishment for others but is also able to feed and nourish her own body and spirit.
The Feasting Table and Altar
I wanted to create a visual feast/offering for my local community here in LA as well as my virtual community by creating a fantastical technicolor “feasting table” that utilizes my skills as a creative director, visual designer, culinary artist, and storyteller. The table is laden with surreal and colorful food art and sculptures that I created to represent the key multi-cultural holiday dishes I wanted to put a spotlight on.
Food Art Illustrations
As a backdrop to the Feasting Table, I created several new illustrations to spotlight some of the holiday dishes on the table: Tamales, Egg Rolls, Matzo Ball Soup and New Year’s Gumbo. Each illustration ties back into a food art sculpture on the table.
The Gumbo Goddess by Parisa Parnian. Art prints available online.
The Indigenous Turkey
As part of the holiday feast, I wanted to reimagine the turkey in hot pink with vividly colored, hand-painted markings that would give it a subversive, street art aesthetic. For me this turkey is my dedication to all my beloved friends who have Indigenous roots to Turtle Island aka “America”. It is also a dedication to all my Queer/Trans BIPOC (Black/Indigenous/People of Color) friends who know what it feels like to be different and othered and still choose to wear their stripes of many colors boldly on their skin.
Hnad-painted turkey sculpture as part of my art installation
Location and Details for the Holiday Food Art Installation
My art installation will be up until January 4th, 20201.
It is located in the former Barnes and Noble building on Thirst Street Promenade and Wilshire Blvd.
(For GPS purposes, put in the address to the Dr. Marten shop located next to my installation)
1215 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90401
Closeup of my SAVAGE MUSE holiday window art installation at Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica.