Watch the hands of college students in the city, and you’ll find fingers scaffolded with hammered silver, knuckles punctuated with diamond commas, flashing pupils of copper and crystal. Our hands are sense-making, fact-finding, expressive devices – our primary interface for feeling and figuring through life. Rings furnish these loaded spaces in careful compositions of texture and light, constriction and expansion over flesh. How we adorn our hands becomes a question of intimacy and personal definition, challenging connotations of the ring with exclusivity and romantic ownership. Jewelry worn daily has the habit of disappearing into the body, melding with skin and embodying symbols and emotions. As I write this, I fidget, twist, slip on, tug off, pull, and polish the infinite silver loop of a forever friendship. Ask someone about their rings, and a dance emerges: fingertips sweeping over knotted metal, tracing paths between knuckles and lingering on stones. Collected from conversations across the Upper West Side, these photos explore the ring as a conduit for personal histories, relationships, milestones, aesthetics; as simple as what we like and as complex as who we love.
ALEX: This ring I got in the west village, it was the first time I came to New York City without my parents, so first time with my friends, and I thrifted that from a consignment store. This one was from a craft fair in my hometown… that’s why I wear that one. And this one, I got a matching ring with my prom date in high school.
BELLA: This one is my most sentimental one - it’s my mom’s, she gave it to me in I think fifth grade, and I’ve worn it everyday since then. I love it, I’ve worn it through everything I’ve ever been through. This is probably my favorite one just cause I like the mixed metals. I got it at a Christmas shop in my hometown. These two I got for my sweet sixteen from different family members. This one was a little more pricey, and it’s the Gemini constellation. Yes, I am a Gemini! This one is also from a crystal shop and this is just a ladybug. I’ve worn these rings everyday…This exact set [since I was sixteen]. There’s this very specific feeling when you’re wearing all of them. If I have a day when I’m feeling sluggish I’m like no rings today, and I just feel different. They’re definitely like an accent of myself that I like to wear.
IMAN: This one my friend got for my birthday last year at Union Square. This, my mom gave to me - it was hers - as a graduation present. This, my friend got for my birthday this year. My birthday was in three months when she gave it to me, but she said “you’ll use it, I don’t want to keep it longer.”
JOSIE: This one my aunt gave me for my graduation. My sister has one and my cousins all have one. This, I just found it in my house. This, I made.
GEORGIA: This one I got from my mom – she has a bunch of rings she got from her friend who lives in Bali. It’s called the God’s Eye… She has one, and my two sisters also have one... I don’t know what type of stone this is, but I love it. This one is also from Bali - it says peace on earth scrolled into it with a little bird on it. This is a claddagh ring from Ireland. My dad’s from Ireland and I always wear this – it represents love, friendship, and loyalty, and you wear it on your finger depending on your relationship status. I’m single right now, so the heart is facing out - whereas if you’re in a relationship and your heart is taken, you wear it this way… I was fourteen and went on a trip to Ireland with my dad, and it was a tradition to get one. This is my everyday combo. Sometimes I add a little more, I’ll wear my mom’s class ring. I like having them one apart so I don’t have metal clashing against each other.
