Roxbury native artist Ja’Hari Ortega was less than a year old when she got her first pair of hoop earrings and just a little older when she became fascinated with her mother’s earful of beautiful gold hoops. Ortega’s installation “Big Hoops to Fill” on the Rose Kennedy Greenway pays homage to hoop earrings and their origins with BIPOC women.
“Big Hoops to Fill” is a life-size swing set, but the swings are enormous, golden bamboo hoop earrings. Viewers are encouraged to swing on the piece, enjoying the gentle sway of the earrings in the middle of downtown Boston.
Large bamboo hoop earrings, often dubbed “door knockers,” are an iconic style pioneered by Black female hip-hop performers like Salt-N-Pepa, MC Lyte, Roxanne Shanté and Queen Latifah. Hoop earrings are particularly associated with Black and Latine women. Those communities are at once celebrated for that style and discriminated against because of it.
Ja’Hari Ortega’s “Big Hoops to Fill” will be on view on the Greenway at the corner of Seaport Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue through October
2026. PHOTO: MEL TAING
“A lot of people say the bigger the hoop, the bigger the attitude,” said Ortega. “But there’s this balance between loud and proud and just walking out of your home wearing your jewelry without shame.”
Ortega is a Boston Arts Academy and MassArt alum. Her work exists at the intersection of sculpture, performance and jewelry making. Getting the details right was extremely important to Ortega. She paid close attention to finding the perfect shiny shade of gold for the earrings and rounding the top of the swing, designed like an earring clasp, just as it would be on a real pair of earrings.
The swing has two built-in sets of handles, one low to the seat that’s designed with children in mind and another set on the side of the swing. All are encouraged to experience joy here.
Ortega in the swing of things with her installation “Big Hoops to Fill.” PHOTO: MEL TAING
In designing the hoops as a playful swing set, Ortega wanted to encourage all park visitors, but especially the BIPOC women who are culturally connected to hoop earrings, to enjoy a moment of peace and play in a public space and to feel welcome in downtown Boston.
“With this piece we’re trying to encourage these women to also take up space, play, rest in public,” says Ortega. “To create this balance of yes, I am a hard worker but I also deserve to be acknowledged, recognized and to be in space and be at peace.”
This isn’t the first time Ortega has struck that balance. During her studies she designed a set of hoop earrings that were also hula-hoops, meant to evoke that same weightless joy of childhood.
On May 15 from 6-8 p.m., Ortega and the Greenway will host an opening reception for the piece, called “You’re Invited to the Cookout.” The free, family-friendly celebration, structured like a neighborhood cookout, will feature food trucks, live music, remarks by the artist and plenty of opportunities to swing on the installation.
“Big Hoops to Fill” will be on view on the Greenway at the corner of Seaport Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue through October 2026. After that, Ortega hopes to see it installed permanently in her childhood playground.
“I grew up in Roxbury,” Ortega said. “I would love to see the piece go back to the community that inspired it.”
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