“I can remember it like it was yesterday,” photographer Lawrence Agyei says of the day his life changed forever. “I woke up for school one Monday, and my dad came into my room. He said, ‘You and your sister have a ticket to go and live with your mum in Chicago. You’re leaving on Wednesday.’” It was only meant to be a six-month trip, but 16 years on, and that morning in his bedroom in Modena now feels like another lifetime. Lawrence’s accent bears only the slightest trace of those early years in northern Italy. Now 32, with a series of eye-catching commissions to his name, the photographer is reflecting on his first book, DRILL, a work that, in style and substance, signals his true arrival in a city now firmly his own.
At its heart, DRILL reflects one of Lawrence’s earliest and most enduring impressions of Chicago, the indomitable pride of its residents, as embodied by one of its proudest institutions: the South Shore Drill Team (SSDT). Established in 1980 by local school teacher Arthur Robertson, SSDT offers young people from the city’s impoverished, predominantly Black neighbourhoods a way out through performing arts. In a city infamous for racial segregation and high crime rates, the importance of an organisation like SSDT cannot be overstated. From starring in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to performing at Obama’s 2013 inauguration, SSDT’s acrobatic routines and effervescent dances have become legendary in the city. And yet, for all they represent about Chicago, Lawrence’s initial interest arose from how they reminded him of Italy.
“I used to be part of a church choir in Modena,” he says. “I was the only Black kid there, but I just loved going; I loved wearing those beautiful uniforms every Sunday. On top of that, I used to be a Boy Scout, where I’d wear another uniform.” He first saw the team rehearse while out in the city’s South Side. Then, by complete chance, two commercial jobs in 2018 and 2020 brought Agyei into contact with the group and its performers, with both encounters proving so inspirational that they pushed him to hone his craft further.
“I feel like, at the time, I wasn’t prepared. I thought, ‘I have to find a way to come back and document these kids’. So, as I started getting serious about my practice, I began studying photographers like Dawoud Bey, Dana Lixenberg and Larry Clark, photographers who’ve created timeless work. The more I studied, the greater the urge to go and find a way to document this team. I just needed to figure out how to do it.” The answer lay not only in the work of those masters who’d come before him but in Lawrence’s singular devotion to the project. Over the course of two pandemic-hit summers, he got to know its 80-odd members intimately, all of whom are aged between 8-16. “I didn’t want to be that photographer who gets the shot but never comes back. I wanted them to see that I’m present every day and I’m working towards something for them.”
Working through the pandemic allowed him to capture the team during a rare moment of stillness, but for them, being unable to perform (and the cancellation of Chicago’s annual Bud Billiken parade in 2020) was unknown territory. “That was the first time since 1980 that they haven’t performed together [at the parade],” he says. “So I knew that was tough on them because, other than this being a team, it’s a real tight family of kids from all over the city.” Held on the second weekend of August each year, the Bud Billiken Parade sees a procession of vibrantly coloured bands and floats make their way down the two miles of Dr Martin Luther King Drive — part of the largest African American parade held in the whole of the US. In a way, losing the biggest event on their calendar allowed Lawrence to see just how much the parade — and being part of a team — meant to the group.
“A lot of those kids come from the type of neighbourhood where there’s no way out. Being part of the team really felt like a safe space where they could go from morning until night.” In his photographs, which combine flashes of dynamic motion with more considered portraits of quiet reflection, this sense of comradery shines through, framing the team as something to be immensely proud of and a place of refuge. But reminders of the reality many of its members face outside of practice were never far, with one former member of the SSDT tragically losing his life to gun violence during Lawrence’s time there.
Now in its fifth decade, the SSDT has offered a lifeline in a city where life expectancy is 10 years shorter for Black residents than for white residents. With an exhibition of the photographs set for this summer in Chicago, the project seeks to elevate their status within the city and beyond. “The more I look into this project, the more I realise it’s bigger than me; I’m just the vessel,” Lawrence finishes. “This history, this team, this part of Chicago needs to be heavily celebrated.”
‘DRILL’ by Lawrence Agyei is available to purchase here.
Credits
All images courtesy Lawrence Agyei