Award-winning sculptor and found-object artist Georges Adéagbo (born in 1942 in Cotonou, Benin) is a virtuoso of site-specific installation, and he will be bringing his transformational art to President Lincoln’s Cottage in January 2023 for a month-long special exhibition titled: Create to Free Yourselves: Abraham Lincoln and the History of Freeing Slaves in America.
Adéagbo has long been personally intrigued by President Lincoln as an icon of emancipation, and this project will explore Lincoln’s legacy of liberation and creativity. The objects in the exhibit—including books, newspapers, handwritten notes, and artwork created by a team of artists in Benin–have relationships with one another, with their creators, and with the space itself. This intersection of relationships becomes the fertile ground for Adéagbo’s unique messaging. The objects themselves cannot be understood outside of this web of meaning, a web that redefines the space and transforms it into a work of art. This process becomes an act of artistic self-liberation.
Notions of identity, African Diasporan heritage, and self-reflection are integral to Adéagbo’s work, which will contribute to a deepening and evolving understanding of place at this important cultural icon.
His list of awards can be found here.
All photos by: Stephan Koehler
