"HOOPS" Series by Nicole Acosta Shows the Importance of Hoop Earrings in Communities of Color
Back in September of 2019, LUNA (Latinas Unidas En Las Artes) held an art exhibit entitled “HOOPS”. Each artist apart of LUNA created art that represented hoop earrings in some form. To promote their work, local creative Nicole Acosta, who is a part of LUNA, took pictures of LUNA collective members and posted them to LUNA’s social media.
LUNA artists for their collective “HOOPS”. (Picture by Nicola Acosta)
When the opening day came for LUNA’s exhibit, guest were expecting to see more pictures of people in hoops. Eventually, people began to send in selfies of themselves in hoops and began to have open dialogue about what hoops mean to them, so Acosta decided to take HOOPS one step further.
Currently, Acosta has hosted two free sessions where she invited the community to come take pictures in their hoop earrings. The sessions are for everyone, but are targeted towards communities of color, specifically Latinx, Black, Muslims and Native Americans.
“Hoop earrings are a bridge between cultures,” Acosta said.
Nicola Acosta. (Picture by Irma Roman)
Acosta didn’t consider herself “girly” or into jewelry while she was growing up because she was focused on playing sports, such as baseball and soccer. It took until Acosta went into her Grandmother’s bedroom and played in her jewelry that she began to understand the importance of it. Acosta’s Grandmother was obsessed with jewelry, specifically “medallas", which are gold pieces that usually have the Virgin Mary displayed on them. Acosta’s Grandmother also liked wearing jewelry all over hands, and this dates back to the 50’s, said Acosta. Mexican artist Frida Kahlo also inspired Acosta to dive deeper into her love of jewelry.
Hoop earrings are not just earrings to Acosta. According to Acosta, it’s her culture’s tradition for baby girls to get their ears pierced young and then receive their first pair of gold hoop earrings. They then graduate to bigger gold hoop earrings and gold rings at their Quinceañera, which is a coming of age celebration for 15-year-old Hispanic and Latina women.
Along with sharing her hoop earring story, Acosta is beginning to write down the hoop stories of the people she’s photographing for the project.
“Hoop earrings are magical [and] sometimes society makes you reject these types of things because they have stigma attached to them,” Acosta said. “I want people to start sharing their own hoop stories.”
Pictures by Nicola Acosta
For a while, Acosta put her hoop earrings away because of how others judged her. Now, it’s hard to go a day without seeing her in a pair of hoop earrings. According to Acosta, she’s always on the hunt for a new pair of earrings, at sites like Honey B Gold or Hoops 88 Dream. The moment she puts on a pair, she feels fine.
“I feel good,” Acosta said. “You can’t tell me nothing.”
Acosta hopes to inspire women, and whomever, to bring back out their hoop earrings, and to never put them away again.
“When I see another woman wearing them, I smile,” she said.
Acosta’s HOOPS, which is an on-going project, will be available for viewing starting on April 17, 2020 at Arts At Large Gallery, located at 1100 S. 5th St. For those interested in participating in the next HOOPS session, click here.