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The Real Landmarks

By Diane D'Costa & Nia Keturah Calhoun

Often dominated by the visitor’s gaze, traditional conceptions of DC landmarks include the familiar monuments and various other tributes to dead white men. In this piece we explore and honor what we consider the true landmarks of the District. They may not be marble statues or national icons, yet they are what make DC home.

Visit Art in Bloom page maps section to see where this sculpture is located.

Diane D'Costa and Nia Keturah Calhoun

Diane D'Costa & Nia Keturah Calhoun

Washington, DC

DMV native Diane D’Costa is an artist, educator, & organizer. As a queer, brown, jewish woman, she never quite fit into the boxes or expectations society had of her. As an accomplished painter and ceramicist she uses her art to feel, to produce, to process, and to make sense of the battles she goes up against both personally and professionally. Diane is the founding Liberation Design Lab teacher at the Washington DC’s Social Justice School. A multidisciplinary DC-based artist (and former rapper), Nia Keturah Calhoun’s work focuses on the real and imagined connections of Black America. She’s exhibited in New York with the Smithsonian Asian American Center, in Washington D.C. as a commissioned artist for the 2017 Women’s March, and in Johannesburg at the Ants Gallery. Her lyrical and mixed media works have been featured on/in BBC Radio 1, The Guardian, Hypebeast and the Huffington Post.