Zendaya’s Earrings Are Part of a Much Bigger Problem

Hyperallergic reports that actor Zendaya drew criticism for wearing earrings made from two 3,000-year-old Iranian gold discs at a London photocall earlier this month for Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming film adaptation of The Odyssey. The discs were mounted in 18-karat gold and diamonds by jeweler Glenn Spiro for his Materials of the Old World collection and were later acquired by Barron London, which said the earrings are in its private collection and not for sale; archaeologists and others questioned the ethics and provenance of turning ancient artifacts into wearable luxury items. The Forensic Archive of Iran launched a petition seeking transparency about the discs’ provenance, and critics also pointed to the timing amid ongoing U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran that have caused thousands of deaths and damage to cultural heritage. The article situates the controversy within a broader market practice of physically altering archaeological and ethnographic materials—such as Roman, Egyptian, Phoenician, and Islamic beads, textile fragments, architectural reliefs, and ritual objects—into jewelry and decorative commodities, a process it argues accelerates commodification and loss of context.

Read the full article at Hyperallergic