Producers Nicole Acosta and Erin Hundley take a deeper look into the intersections of where hoop earrings meet in culture, fashion, art, music, hair, and history by sharing stories of love, power, resistance, and liberation. The portraits and film feature individuals who have a deep connection to hoop earrings and for the first time give an honest testimony of why hoop earrings make so many feel empowered, protected, and magical.
For many Black, Brown, Indigenous Asian, and communities of the global majority— hoop earrings symbolize our complex, layered and beautiful identities. They’ve traveled from generation to generation, surviving even the harshest of criticisms. This project holds space for individuals to share their hoops stories as we unravel the cultural significance and evolution of these powerful artifacts.
Nicole and Erin have the opportunity to document the personal testimonies and opinions of individuals along with top names and influencers in the world of fashion, jewelry, music, and history. Providing insight on what has become a beloved statement in communities around the world. The project will exhibit the evolving culture of hoop earrings. A trajectory that has advanced from the earliest known hoop earrings discovered and dating back to 2500BC, belonging to Sumerian women.
The HOOPS Portrait Project began as a campaign for an exhibition, Milwaukee-based Art Collective LUNA created.” creating works inspired by their own experiences centering hoop earrings. As a member, Nicole Acosta held a photo session for LUNA, asking them to wear their hoop earrings and encouraging each to share stories prompted by the question, --What do hoop earrings mean to you? By sharing these images and collecting stories, Nicole realized the act of adorning our ears with hoops is a choice, a statement- deeply rooted in liberation and visibility. We were born into them. They have become both a marker of our identities and symbols of home. For some, they became gifts celebrating a coming of age, and for others, they evoke memories of self-revelation.
HOOPS Project team after a long day of shooting in Brooklyn, NY.
From left to right; Art Director/Executive Producer: Nicole Acosta(@atsocanic); Cinematographer: Denielle Dix(@shotbyddix); Director/Executive Producer: Erin Hundley(@rdbwellness); Production Manager and Design: Jazmin Delgado(@jazzyjeff_freshtodef).
We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, and your donation will help fund our coffee table book, film documentary, as well as our global reach to bring the HOOPS project to cities around the world. You've made it that much easier to continue this very important body of work. We thank you for your desire to help us successfully document and archive the voices/stories of these powerful groups that most times go untold and too often become the fiction of others.
“The gold hoop earring has been a powerful symbol in many cultures throughout history. Both men and women have been adorning their bodies with jewelry since the earliest days of civilization. The oldest earrings archeologists have discovered belong to Sumerian women who lived in 2500 BC, and favored the now-classic gold hoop style.”
— BIANCA NIEVES, REFINERY29
