’10-present

Ida B. Wells (1862 – 1931) American journalist, educator, a founder of the NAACP and anti-lynching activist.

T. Thomas Fortune (1856-1928) American journalist, publisher, writer, orator and civil rights leader.

Octavia Butler (1947-2006) American science fiction writer. Recipient of several awards including the MacArthur Fellowship.

Fredrick Allen Hampton (1948-1969) American activist, Chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, and deputy chairman of the national BPP.

Minto Cato (1900-1979) American mezzo-soprano opera singer.

Frederick Douglass (1818 – 1895) American abolitionist, social reformer, statesman, orator and writer. Library of Congress, Brady-Handy Collection

James Baldwin (1924-1987) American novelist, poet, essayist, playwright and activist.

Margaret Murray Washington – AKA Mrs. Booker T. Washington (1865-1925) American educator and anti-lynching activist.

American sharecropper (1880-?), Hinds County, Mississippi. Photography by Dorothea Lange 1937.

Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879-1961) American civil rights activist, feminist, orator, businesswoman and educator.

June Jordan (1936-2002) American poet, educator, activist and essayist.

Georgia Blossom

Audre Lorde (1934-1992) American poet, educator and civil rights activist.

Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) American Congresswoman and first African American and woman to seek the nomination for president of the USA in 1972.

Toni Morrison (1931-2019) American novelist, college professor, essayist, book editor and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1993.

Dred Scott (1799-1858) American activist and enslaved man. Scott sued for his and his family’s freedom in the Dred Scott v Sandford 1857 Supreme Court case.

Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa (1942-2004) American scholar of Chicana cultural theory, feminist theory, and queer theory.

Faire gaffe

Fais Gaffe, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 18″ x 36″

Farmhouse, 2020, acrylic on unstretched canvas, 16″ – NFS; on exhibit

Wheel Lock, 2020, acrylic on panel, 10″ x 10″

Di Piazza_PACE_2020 Pace, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 24″ x 20″

Di Piazza_In Effect In Effect, 2020 acrylic on canvas, 12″

Top Eye Open, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 18″ x 36″

ROS final

Exhibition image: Redlining Our Souls works by L.D. Di Piazza. Exhibited in Norwich, VT Dec. 2018 to Feb. 2019.

ROS1 Love’s Paradise, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 30″ x 30″ – NFS

hartford with explanation_final Explanation #3 on East Hartford, 2018, ink on paper, 24” x 23.25”

Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC – founded 1933 – defunct 1954) map; copy from HOLC area description

Redlining Our Souls_painting

Law’s comfort, 2018, acrylic paint on canvas, 24” x 24” – NFS

ROS5

Koko’s Watching, 2018, acrylic paint on canvas, 36” x 48”

Toni's Lorain Toni’s Lorain, 2018, ink on paper, 36” x 24”

Cursive copy is an excerpt from a Toni Morrison interview on the Charlie Rose Show in 1993. Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC – founded 1933 – defunct 1954) map.

Di Piazza_Ain't Down Ain’t Down, 2018, acrylic paint on canvas, 20” x 24”

Compartments, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 12″ x 36″

Harlem’s Lullaby, 2018, oil and acrylic paint on canvas, 11” x 14”

ROS2 Long Way Home, 2018, acrylic paint on canvas, 30″ x 30″ – NFS

control Control, 2013, print on metal, 16″x 16″

boilingpot Our Beloved Pain, 2011, acrylic paint and ink on linen, 16″ x 20″

Etna, 2016, pointed pen flourished lettering

No Sleep ‘Til, 2015, gouache on paper, 14″ x 22″

Misha Bean, 2015, acrylic paint on canvas, 36″ x 36″

Our Depth, 2015,watercolor on paper, 12″ x 16″

Zora, 2014, gouache, watercolor and ink on paper, 19-1/2″ x 25-1/2″, 49.53cm x 63.5cm

“She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her” – Zora Neal Hurston

June, 2014, gouache, watercolor and ink on paper, 19-1/2″ x 25-1/2″, 49.53cm x 63.5cm

“To tell the truth is to become beautiful, to begin to love yourself, value yourself and that’s political.” – June Jordan

Road Map, 2014, acrylic and ink on canvas, 24″ x 30″, 61 cm x 76.2cm – NFS

Sunspots, 2014, acrylic and ink on canvas, 30″ x 40″, 76.2cm x 101.6cm – NFS

Cages, 2014, acrylic and ink on canvas, 24″ x 24″, 61cm x 61cm – NFS

He Swims, 2014, acrylic and ink on canvas, 18″ x 18″, 45.7cm x 45.7cm – NFS

Our Sleep, 2014, gouache and sumi ink on paper, 12.5″ x 16.25″, 31.75cm x 41.27cm

Our_beat Our Beat, 2014, gouache and sumi ink on paper, 12.5″ x 16.25″, 31.75cm x 41.27cm

Our_Love Our Love, 2014, gouache and sumi ink on paper, 12.5 x 16.25″, 31.75cm x 41.27cm

Let Them See You Sweat, 2013, Inkjet print, 19.7″ x 23.6″, 50 cm x 60 cm

Decimal 6, 2013, C-print, 15.7″ x 19.7″, 40 cm x 50 cm

Hanging Words, 2013, metal, paper and safety pins, 11″ x 26″ x .5″ – 27.94 cm x 66.04 cm x 1.27 cm – NFS

What drives us, 2013, gouache, ink, paper and vintage hard drive, 12″ diameter – 30.48 cm diameter – NFS

What drives you, 2013, gouache, ink, paper and vintage hard drive, 12″ diameter – 30.48 cm diameter

This silver lining needs refining (in collaboration with Hugh Rennison) , 2013 , metal grommets, gouache, wire, card, 16.5″ x 23.2″ – 42 cm x 59.4 cm

The copy is a quote by Italian writer and poet Cesare Pavese and reads “The only joy in the world is to begin. It is beautiful to live because living is to begin again in every moment.”