NYC Jewelry Week: Kalkidan Hoex

Mon, Nov 13 - Sun, Nov 19  2023

NYC Jewelry Week is a cultural platform dedicated to the celebration of jewelry. This year’s annual NYC Jewelry Week runs November 13-19, 2023 and Dutch jewelry designer Kalkidan Hoex will present a solo exhibition at this year's edition!

Kalkidan Hoex, a jewelry artist from Ethiopia, creates a collection called When Lions Learn to Swim, which explores her identity and experiences in a third world. The collection combines wearable and conceptual jewelry with photography and moving images, reflecting the complexity of Ethiopian culture and mindset. The collection is an installation that combines jewelry with photography, textiles, and moving images, showing the realm where this blur of worlds exits.

Kalkidan Hoex

Hoex moved to the Netherlands from Ethiopia as a two-year-old, causing friction and adaptation in her identity and cultural background. The collection reflects her in-between world, highlighting the in-between world where frictions in identity and adaptation occurred. Kalkidan’s experience as part of the StimuleringsFund allowed her to step back and reevaluate her practice, learning new techniques and traveling to Ethiopia. She compared her work to western art and Ethiopian art, focusing on the reasoning behind making and the importance of the maker’s story.