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Yaw Agyeman

@yaws_world

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Freedom From Freedom To at Elastic Arts

photos taken December 7 2024 taken in Elastic Arts by @yaws_world

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3 days ago

some portraits from 2024. taken in Chicago, Illinois by @yaws_world

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4 days ago

In 1907, St. Laurence Elementary School opened at the corner of 72nd Street and Dorchester Avenue, welcoming generations of families and students over the course of nearly 100 years.

By the latter half of the twentieth century, demographic change and population shifts had contributed to a shrinking Catholic parish. Alongside nearly $3 million in deferred maintenance, these challenges led the Archdiocese to shutter the 40,000-square-foot school in 2002. The building remained vacant for more than a decade, facing the possibility of demolition.

Photo: Sara Pooley (@sara_pooley_studio)

In 2016, Rebuild Foundation acquired St. Laurence with the urgent mission of protecting it from erasure. Over the next decade, we invested nearly $14 million in its preservation, conservation, and renovation, returning to active use a site that for so many families represents their earliest encounters with spirituality and faith, pedagogy and community self-determination.

In the ten years we spent readying the St. Laurence Elementary School for its next life, we invited our neighbors and their children to paint the boards that would eventually protect the windows, challenging the visual language of vacancy and abandonment. We hosted a parade and processional down Dorchester Avenue with local dancers, musicians, and artists. We formally broke ground on the project with the support of our allies and friends, including Governor J.B. Pritzker, former First Lady of Chicago Amy Eshleman, Alderperson Michelle Harris, and the Clayco Foundation.

Photo: Nancy Wong (@nancywongphotography)

And we were proud to host the St. Laurence Elementary School alumni network for a hard hat tour of the building, bringing former students back into the building decades later and reconnecting them with some of their earliest and most formative memories.

Photo: Chris Strong (@_chris_strong_)

One year ago, we received our certificate of occupancy. Days later, at the soonest opportunity to welcome our neighbors back to The Land School at the site of the former St. Laurence Elementary School, we officially moved in with offerings from artists across the city.

Today, we celebrate one year since the reope by @yaws_world

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19 days ago

So happy I’m 48
Cause 47 is out here doing the worst
Looking forward to bigger and better.
I wish that for all of us.

#virgoseason #happybirthday by @yaws_world

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a month ago

Join me this evening, for the second edition of my Listening Hours series, “In the Company of Singers”, at The Land School.
Come listen with me as we spend time with the voices that have shaped my own—from Donny Hathaway to Nina Simone and others whose singing expanded my imagination, challenged my ears, and continues to inspire my creative life.

Sept 3
5–8 PM.
Land School
7200 S Dorchester

An evening of deep listening and shared appreciation. by @yaws_world

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a month ago

Thursday, September 3, 5 PM - 8 PM | Join us as we welcome Yaw Agyeman back to A Listening Space at The Land School, where he’ll present “In the Company of Singers Volume II.”

One session was not enough to contain the soundtrack of a lifetime. The lineage of voices that have shaped, challenged, and expanded Yaw’s vocal imagination runs far too deep. In this continuation, Yaw returns to share more songs and singers whose artistry redefines what the human voice can achieve. From legendary icons like Ray Charles and Sarah Vaughan to overlooked deep cuts, this session continues the journey through Yaw’s primary musical influences.

Listen to the playlist from Yaw’s first session and reserve your spot via the links in our bio. Space is limited. by @yaws_world

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a month ago

@yaws_world We appreciate your artistry. Thank you for sharing. by @yaws_world

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2 months ago

Tomorrow evening, I’m excited to share the first edition of my Listening Hours series, “In the Company of Singers”, at The Land School.
Come listen with me as we spend time with the voices that have shaped my own—from Donny Hathaway to Nina Simone and others whose singing expanded my imagination, challenged my ears, and continues to inspire my creative life.

Join me tomorrow, August 6, from 5–8 PM for an evening of deep listening and shared appreciation. by @yaws_world

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2 months ago

Thursday, August 6, 5 PM - 8 PM | Join us as we welcome Yaw Agyeman to A Listening Space at The Land School for a special Listening Hours session, “In the Company of Singers,” presenting the artists whose voices have profoundly pushed his own.

From Donny Hathaway to Robert Plant, Yaw will spin songs by the vocalists who have expanded his musical imagination. Artists who stoked his curiosity about singing, challenged his understanding of what the human voice could do, and who continue to inspire his vocal pursuits and creative process.

Beneath the voices are a community of listeners, arrangers, musicians, engineers, and producers who helped that voice become what we remember. The selections honor not only the singers, but the aural architecture surrounding them—the people whose care made these songs possible.

Reserve your spot now via the link in our bio.

Photo Credit: Sulyiman Stokes (@sulyiman_) by @yaws_world

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2 months ago

Where would a fleeing black man go, if he wanted to escape?

-Baldwin by @yaws_world

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3 months ago

Coming July 25th to @blancgallerychicago

The family comes through to celebrate Emmett’s 85th!!
@leslehonore @discopoetry @yaws_world @datboysaid

What an honor to exhibit with @chleeart @normanteaguedesignstudios @rogerjcarter @maxsansing @art_epidemic @artbywak @tonikaj @benard3279 @johncaleb.pendleton @rayatstudios65 @ggriffinfineart by @yaws_world

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3 months ago

Celebrated pop dukes,
But also grateful to have a home
Especially in times where,
In the place that I was born,
The head niggas in charge
Want to make it more unbearable
And unbelievable to consider
It a home- want to imagine that
My birthright, built on the sinew and tears and torment and prayers of my bloodmates, doesn’t equal one pesewas.
So..
Grateful
To have Ghana in me and on me.
I’m a black star too like Mos and Kweli.
And maybe you are too. taken in Abokobi Boi by @yaws_world

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3 months ago