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Tatyana Fazlalizadeh is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist whose practice considers Black image making as a site of protest, contestation, affirmation, and possibility. At CAAM, Fazlalizadeh will present a series of portraits of Black Angelenos wheat-pasted across the atrium’s monumental walls. Based on photographs and conversations that took place this spring while the artist was living in Los Angeles, the portraits ask how safety is inferred, built, and felt for the city’s Black residents.

Ben Caldwell envisioned cinema as an instrument that could heal and emancipate. In 1984, he opened KAOS Network, the media arts hub that has helped steward Leimert Park Village’s traditions of Black artistry, fellowship, and love for over four decades. This multimedia exhibition explores Caldwell’s varied practices of photography, film, video, music, performance, community-based design, and interactive media and celebrates the creative life and communities of KAOS Network.

The Compton Art & History Museum opened to the public this year, just months after its two founders, the husbandand- wife duo Abigail Lopez-Byrd and Marquell Byrd, came together with a vision for the space. “We have archives from Compton from the 1960s and 1970s that the youth can now come and see without having to go to neighboring cities or somewhere deep in LA that don’t represent who they are or where they come from,” says Co-founder Marquell Byrd.

Cuban-born Campos-Pons creates vivid photographs, watercolors, installations, and performances that explore the cultural and personal impacts of migration and memory. Her work reflects the histories of labor affecting her family, emphasizing resilience and honoring her Nigerian and Chinese ancestors. This 35-year survey highlights the interconnectedness between people and their environments, offering a rich, sensory experience.

Join Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson; Mayor Karen Bass; the Los Angeles City Council; and the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) to officially celebrate the exhibition installation of the work of Los Angeles photographer, Leroy Hamilton in DCA’s Henry P. Rios Gallery at Los Angeles City Hall on display from Friday, January 31, 2025 to February 26, 2025.

The Story of Us displays Black Angelenos in several dimensions of their lives—at home with family, in the conference room, on the court, in government halls of power, on the mainstage, in the streets, and in places of worship. It captures the fullness of Black life. Mr. Hamilton seeks to restore the humanity behind Black faces that are often misrepresented. Visitors will experience the full spectrum of Black personhood through the lens of a local artist with strategic connections and expansive vision.

The Story of Us is Leroy Hamilton’s exhibit which he hopes will reverberate across the country. By capturing a collection of photos of Black Angelenos, the artist hopes to draw parallels between movement building in Black Los Angeles to national Black movements. Mr. Hamilton hopes to remind visitors that there is a community photographer in every community, and we must recommit ourselves to seeking them out and uplifting their work. The photography exhibit is an ode to Black Los Angeles and all we represent in the past, present, and future–from Crenshaw to the coast, this is The Story of Us.

The exhibition is curated and coordinated by Larry Earl.

Photography Exhibition: January 31, 2025 through February 26, 2025

The exhibition is free to visit and open to the public.

Ribbon Cutting: Friday, February 7, 2025, 9:30 a.m.

Stream films on Kanopy or Hoopla, both on-demand streaming film services. They both have an extensive library of African American cinema and documentaries that are free with your Los Angeles City or Los Angeles County library card.

kanopy.com/en/category/40898?frontend=kui

 hoopladigital.com

The Los Angeles Public Library and the Los Angeles County Library cards give you access to many resources, including two amazing online music collections. Freegal features unlimited songs, and Hoopla lets you check out full albums. These two databases have endless amounts of music from the African and African American diaspora to explore, from famous hits to underground sounds.

hoopladigital.com/search?q=African+American+music&scope=everything&type=direct&kindId=6

freegalmusic.com

The Crazy Superhero Vacation is a production by Ms. Neate’s class at Vena Avenue Elementary. Animation and editing are by Pieter Hardeman of Toy Story Lab. Southland Sings is a creative organization using the arts to unlock creative potential through live opera, musical theatre production, education assemblies, and music composition for all ages.