THEY is about the persistence of colonial occupation and how it affects our current political state and relationships to geography and culture. Through the examination of colonial architectural structures, their impact upon the people, flora, and fauna of their environments, and the push and pull between indigeneity, empire, imperialism, globalism and mass dissemination of hegemonic states of being, Hinkle is examining our relationship to trafficking, being trafficked and becoming un-trafficked. Through a continued practice of manipulating the scale and context of colonial postcard imagery disseminated throughout Europe and America as expressions of colonial power in the late 19th century, Hinkle is turning her gaze upon the culprits who created these visual fictions and absolute rule. Through the usage of large scale mixed media works on paper, wood panel and a reconfigured wicker thrones Hinkle questions the subtitles within architecture and furnishings as ways to dominate and control one’s perception and experience within space visually and imaginatively. Explorations of the Black femme body as geography, and colonialism as a parasite that renders the geography a host and how these parallels relate to the human trafficking trade of West Africans in Europe and African-American women in the US creates an intense conversation and nuanced historical twist and underpinning that invites the viewers to grapple with. Hinkle asks “What is this perpetual loop of dominance that we find ourselves ingratiated? For the first time, Hinkle is focusing on the actual/literal architecture of colonialism in relationship to churches, police stations, colleges and various European structures that were built upon occupied land. Hinkle is interested in how these structures collide with the Black femme body as an expression of the wealth of the colonial operation in relation to functionality, perceived comfort, and resources i.e. milk in relationship to gold, a lap in relationship to a throne/seat or coast. This blurring in relationship to bodies and geographies and highlighting structures that colonials built allows the gaze to be disrupted highlighting the warped mirror that essentially is a prop that was cloaked as “foreign” landscapes and modalities. THEY aims to link these original colonial pursuits with the rapid increase of gentrification, natural resource depletion, sex trafficking and so many other models that colonialism, imperialism and capitalism continues to ignite.

Early paintings and photography from the THEY series. 2014-16