Photographer: Amy Hoffman-Shehan, Sherman, Texas
Location: Veld and Sea, Cape Town, South Africa
Look at that table!
Raw wood. Wildflowers. Crystal glass catching afternoon light in a sun-drenched glass house. No two centerpiece arrangements alike, because they weren’t arranged so much as gathered — botanicals cut from the surrounding landscape and brought inside still looking like they belong outside.
Amy Hoffman-Shehan photographed this celebration during a four-day wedding in Cape Town, South Africa — a gathering deliberately designed to build community through shared experience in the natural world. The couple gave their guests something rare: time, beauty, and food that told a story about the place they were in.
That food came from Cape Town forager and chef Roushanna Gray of Veld and Sea, whose practice begins not with a recipe but with a walk. Watermelon topped with wrack — a crunchy, pretzel-like seaweed harvested from the shoreline — arrived alongside rice paper spring rolls packed with foraged vegetables and edible flowers, and sea kelp fried in a light tempura batter, garnished with wildflowers. The table needed nothing else.
Notice what’s absent: anything disposable. From the ocean and the field to the plate, and nothing in between that you’d have to throw away.
Texoma’s own wildflowers will be blooming soon. Liatris, with its long purple spikes, dries beautifully and lasts for months. It turns out inspiration for a table like this one might be closer than you think.
Artist’s Notes:
A few photos from a trip to South Africa for a cousin’s wedding. The wedding couple scheduled a week of experiences leading up to their wedding so their friends and family could get to know each other. My inspiration was the visual beauty of every experience.
I am an artist with formal training in drawing, painting and printmaking. After experiencing adverse reactions to chemical exposure from oil paints, printmaking chemicals and printing inks, I have been exploring ways to achieve layering with water based paints and mediums. My interest in ecology and recycling has led to an interest in fiber art using yarns made from recycled materials.
Artist Social Media
amychs17@gmail
Texoma Earth Day Festival, organizer