Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle
(b. 1987)Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, also known as Olomidara Yaya, is dedicated to exploring historical resonances felt in the present.
Biography
Inspired by her mother, an artist whose talent was never fully nourished due to living in the segregated South, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle learned to speak against injustices in the name of self-possession and as an assertion of identity.
Hinkle obtained a BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a master’s degree from the California Institute of the Arts. She sees her practice as political work and has worked with colonial archives to retrieve unseen narratives, especially those of Black women. In particular, she has collected photos of women across colonial West Africa that were disseminated throughout the world as symbols of domination and power.
Hinkle furthers these interests through her interdisciplinary practices that include drawing, performance, writing, and healing practices such as Reiki. She has had solo exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2019); Weingart Gallery, Los Angeles (2018); and the California African American Museum, Los Angeles (2017); and participated in group exhibitions including the 2012 Made in LA Biennial, where she created a performance-based installation called Kentrifica—an invented nation that is a combination of the histories of her home state of Kentucky and Africa. Her work was included in Fore (2012–13)—the fourth in the series of “F” Shows focused on emerging artists. The Museum first acquired Hinkle’s work in 2018.
Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle
(b. 1987)Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, also known as Olomidara Yaya, is dedicated to exploring historical resonances felt in the present.
My Justice is Not Your Justice, 2009
Biography
Inspired by her mother, an artist whose talent was never fully nourished due to living in the segregated South, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle learned to speak against injustices in the name of self-possession and as an assertion of identity.
Hinkle obtained a BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a master’s degree from the California Institute of the Arts. She sees her practice as political work and has worked with colonial archives to retrieve unseen narratives, especially those of Black women. In particular, she has collected photos of women across colonial West Africa that were disseminated throughout the world as symbols of domination and power.
Hinkle furthers these interests through her interdisciplinary practices that include drawing, performance, writing, and healing practices such as Reiki. She has had solo exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2019); Weingart Gallery, Los Angeles (2018); and the California African American Museum, Los Angeles (2017); and participated in group exhibitions including the 2012 Made in LA Biennial, where she created a performance-based installation called Kentrifica—an invented nation that is a combination of the histories of her home state of Kentucky and Africa. Her work was included in Fore (2012–13)—the fourth in the series of “F” Shows focused on emerging artists. The Museum first acquired Hinkle’s work in 2018.