True American (ongoing)
MENOKIN ARTSCAPE IS OUR FIRST EVER OUTDOOR ART EXHIBIT, WITH THIS YEAR’S THEME BEING SELF-EMANCIPATION, TO COMMEMORATE AMERICA’S 250TH.
AS VISITORS EXPLORE MENOKIN’S GROUNDS, THEY WILL SEE 3 ART INSTALLATIONS COMMENTING ON THE 250TH, THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, AND WHAT FREEDOM MEANS TO THEM.
Leading to the Menokin ruin is a series of large-scale photographs against the backdrop the landscape. These images, showcasing Black American cowboys, were photographed by Yolanda Hoskey, whose work is now on display for Menokin Artscape 2026.
"True American" is an ongoing series that explores what it means to be both Black and American. This installment turns to the American West, centering Black American cowboys as a long-overlooked part of national history.
Photographed within the network of Oklahoma Cowboy Foundation, the images follow intergenerational riders Damon Hopkins and TK Smith, whose families have passed down horsemanship and rodeo tradition for generations, situating them within an iconography of the American West that has long erased their presence.
By centering Black subjects within a legacy of frontier and self-reliance that has historically been exclusionary, the work reclaims both visual and cultural ground. Emancipation here is not a single historical event but something carried forward literally, through inheritance, land, and skill passed from uncle to nephew, generation to generation.
Through portraiture that holds pride and quiet continuity, "True American" positions freedom not as something granted, but something lived and renewed with every generation that carries it forward.
Medium: digital print on outdoor scrim banner
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Yolanda Hoskey is a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist working across photography and film. Her practice centers on storytelling that examines Black identity, memory, and the layered realities of American life, with a focus on images that hold both intimacy and tension. Through portraiture and moving image, she creates work that challenges singular narratives and invites deeper engagement with the people and communities she photographs.
Yolanda is a 2024 Magnum Foundation Fellow. In 2025, she was named a recipient of the International Photographic Council Rising Star Award, presented at the United Nations, recognizing emerging voices shaping global visual storytelling. Her work has been exhibited in galleries, public art installations, and exhibitions across the United States and internationally, and has been featured in The New York Times, Bloomberg, Times Union, and Essence.
Rooted in her upbringing in East New York, Brooklyn, her work is grounded in a commitment to care, collaboration, and representation—creating images that reflect the complexity, resilience, and beauty of Black life.
IG: @ghetoyolie
