Zine #09: Starring Hoopsiedee

📸 @meghanofjupiter

The mistress of the arts talks community after trauma, motherhood and the rejuvenating power of art.

I don’t take what I do here for granted. Some days a good amount of you check in on my site, some days it’s just my mom. But either way, people still decide to tell me things. I have nothing to offer but they give me their stories and experiences. Pearls who owe no one the tale of their clam, they let me in. 

I didn’t know Hoopsiedee before this piece but she welcomed me into her soul from the get-go. The St. Louis local is an active art powerhouse. While confined to our homes (those of us who care about collective health), we immerse in screens and revel in the mobile arts. Visual and sonic media have saved scraps of our sanity but the holy trio of music, film and TV aren’t the only forms of creative expression. Hoopsie is the epitome of performance artistry, and an example of artists we need to branch out and recognize as we emerge. 

A skilled hooper, in-line skater, “also a photographer (currently in college for Photography and anthropology), I’m a burlesque perfomer, and just an all around bitch of many trades 😂;” she makes a fluid representative of the much needed deconstruction of structured/conventional art.

Our conversation is below. my messages are in italics and her responses are screenshot below in the graphic. Trigger Warning / talk of sexual assault

So to start, you’re a hooper and a roller skater, how did you start with each? And are there any other artistic skills/mediums you do?

Firstly, I’m so happy you found a beautiful outlet after your assault. I can’t even imagine what that experience would’ve been like not only in the boys club of the army but as a Black womxn. I can’t imagine the amount of people, and society as a whole, failing you like that but I’m in awe of your strength. Secondly, I appreciate you sharing something personal like that with me. What does hooping make you feel? What was it that resonated with you then and now?

You’ve been participating in skating rallies (or marches? I’m not sure the correct term) but movements of roller skaters protesting police brutality and systemic racism, what does it feel like on the ground, at these events, immersed in a community that intersects your passions and identity?

While it’s inhumane the trauma that you share, it’s beautiful to hear you found community with these rollouts. How do you share and nurture creativity with your child? I’m sure they’re blossoming with it since they have such an insanely attune and magical momma

I love that! I’m excited to see what she does with the world, sounds like a future star. I’m winding down, but I wanna talk about photography first. Your other talents are more physical in the art they render. Hooping and skating, for example, are physical expressions and photography is a visual result. Do they feel like different types of art to you? How does photography interact with your creativity differently?

Last question, how can people support you and your art?

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