Category: ATALM

Earrings by Wade Campbell

“…they‘re mainly a way to differentiate self, to add a little bit of personality, to show care/affection/thoughtfulness.”

“I‘m Dine and grew up hearing that the skin wasn‘t to be marked (tattoos), but earrings were okay. I wanted to get them pierced in HS but eventually did it in 2017 at the age of 28! I love the options.”

What will you do with these earrings? “I‘ll likely give them to my girlfriend. I‘m a Dine archaeologist whose work focuses strongly on the history of shepherding, so this is a partial reflection of that.”

“3 Generations Circle Dance in ledger style depicts three women wearing ribbon skirts and holding hands in Great Circle”

Earrings by Amy Valentine – Tulaaan Tlaa

Do earrings hold particular meaning for you or your family or culture?

“Yes. Materials, colors, designs, etc…carry meaning that‘s silently communicated to others. It‘s a simple but effective way to carry our identities as we move through our colonized worlds.”

Are earrings gifted or passed down in your family or community?

“Yes. Gifts for strength, expressions of love, passing down important pieces w/in family. Sometimes for events, usually when the spirit moves us to.”

How were your ears pierced?

“As a small child at the local hair salon in our small town. It made me feel like a woman, like my mom, like I could also wear carved silver and fur, and that I had a traditional way for bad things to exit my body.”

Earrings by Amy Cao.

“Earrings are the only type of jewelry I wear and what my mother wore. My ears were pierced at an early age and every era of my life has been reflected and expressed by my earrings.”

“The only belongings I have from my Vietnamese grandmother are a pair of gold and jade earrings that my father gave me when I turned 18.”

“I was a baby when my ears were pierced and I‘ve always been glad that I had the ability to wear earrings since and express myself and my culture through that.”

Earrings and medallion depicting a swallowtail bird in flight

By Alice Tran

“As a child, my mother brought me to a jeweler to properly pierce my ears. I‘m a screamer and made a scene. My mother had to bring me back the next week to finish piercing the other side.”

“Found out recently one of my given names was given to me by my mother. The earrings is a depiction of that given name. Unsure what to do with it.”