Georges Adéagbo (left) working with his long time collaborator and illustrator Benoît Adanhoumè in Benin, West Africa, 2023.

Tickets include post-talk reception and musical performance by HEARD world jazz ensemble!

Award-winning African artist Georges Adéagbo (born in 1942 in Cotonou, Benin) known world-wide for his found-object installations will speak about his site-specific installation at Chesterwood. "Create to Free Yourselves: Abraham Lincoln and the History of Freeing the Slaves in America" was originally developed for President Lincoln's Cottage, the home where the president lived and developed the Emancipation Proclamation in Washington D.C. This exhibition, which explores themes of freedom and bondage, developed out of a residency with the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art.

Adéagbo has long been personally intrigued by President Lincoln as an icon of emancipation, and this project explores Lincoln’s legacy of liberation and creativity. After he installed Create to Free Yourselves at President Lincoln’s Cottage, Adéagbo was invited to Chesterwood to view the 6' model of the seated Abraham Lincoln in the studio and the many Lincoln related objects that Daniel Chester French owned such as Lincoln's life-mask and hand casts. Back in Benin, Adéagbo worked with local artists to create new items for the exhibition based on his visit and on photos from Chesterwood's archives.

The exhibition, which debuted at President Lincoln's Cottage in February 2023, will be brought to Chesterwood in July where it will be reimagined by Adéagbo when he installs the objects within Chesterwood's studio and collections galleries.

The installation process is made possible by Stephan Kohler of Kulturforum Sud-Nord. The exhibition will travel to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art in September 2023 where if will be displayed and entered into its permanent collection.

Adéagbo’s works can be found in important collections such as the Centre Pompidou-Paris, Museum Ludwig Cologne, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, Toyota City Museum, The Nasjonal Museum Oslo, KIASMA Helsinki, Moderna Museum Stockholm and the Contemporary Art Collection of the Federal Republic of Germany.