Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle / Olomidara Yaya
I am an interdisciplinary visual artist, writer, and performer who integrates cultural criticism, personal narrative, social practice, and historical research to interrogate structures of power concerning race and representation. I aim to stretch the boundaries of what painting is—I experiment with mixed media/collage, creating critiques of colonialism using painting and drawing as tools for interruption. My art practice is research-based in that I study the Black femme body as a construction and uncharted geography that is constantly navigating through multiple layers of perception, time, and spatiality. My practice includes collaborations and participatory projects with alternative gallery spaces within various communities as well as projects that are intimate and based upon my private experiences in relation to historical events and contexts. Within my studio practice, I conduct extensive experimentation and play in which I form several bodies of work simultaneously.
“I aim to stretch the boundaries of what painting is—I experiment with mixed media/collage, creating critiques of colonialism using painting and drawing as tools for interruption.”
“THEY: Harriet’s Reprisal [The Expulsion] (2024)
THEY: Harriet’s Reprisal [The Deluge] (2024)
Inspired by the two Confederate states’ currency in the nearby case, interdisciplinary visual artist, death doula, and healer, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle/Olomidara Yaya created these works surrounded by ghosts of the past and present.
She cut through prints of two bills of Confederate money to create a story she wanted them to tell. Water in one print and fire in the other represent transformative elements that bring physical and symbolic change. By cutting into the images, Hinkle disrupts the original intention meant for these icons of value. Focused on the great Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery and freed hundreds more, Hinkle thought about “payback” as a theme for her artworks.
She believes, “Participating in this commission has been some of the most challenging work that has ever come across my historical present surgical table and I am forever changed by the excruciatingly loud voices, the silent voices, and the silenced ones peeking through.”