Featured Artist: Lorenzo Diggins, Jr.
We’re thrilled to feature Lorenzo Diggins Jr. — a visual artist, creative director, and art book publisher — and his newsprint publication “Find Peace. Keep Peace.” at Highlow Gift Shop.
For Lorenzo, creating is a way for him to not only express himself but to help others along the way. As a native of South Central Los Angeles, Lorenzo is inspired to explore and tell the stories of the people and places that are often misrepresented and underserved. Creating through the mediums of photography, illustration, and book-making, Lorenzo uses his art practice as a tool to foster connection, community, and safe spaces for others, such as facilitating his zine making workshops for kids and families.
Lorenzo’s work as an artist has also extended into advocating and strategizing for other artists and creatives through his design studio and art book publishing company color bloc creativ, where he’s able to help artists archive their work in book form.
We hope you find inspiration through his story.
Check out more of his work at: lorenzodiggins.com / colourbloccreativ.com
Lorenzo grew up in South Central LA, where he experienced a lot of negativity at an early age, but thanks to the support of loved ones he was encouraged to channel his feelings and express himself through being creative.
“My entry into expressing myself creatively was through drawing, then it was fashion design, then it was product design, and now I’m exploring them all at the same time…On my journey I have overcome many obstacles from not having the “right” resources to not having the “right” team, to not knowing the “right” people – the way I have overcome all of those things is by not putting a lot of focus on that stuff! And really directing my attention to creating the best product with what I did have. Currently I would consider myself a multidisciplinary artist who creates products, content, and experiences for a living. The common thread weaved throughout my work, is a deep value in fostering connection among people. Simply put, I love using my work as the tool to create community.”
(Referenced from an interview with VoyageLA)
Lorenzo started practicing photography as a medium after growing up watching his mother document family moments.
“My mother definitely (though subconsciously) piqued my interest in photography. She always had a camera with her and though as a child I was usually annoyed by her obsession with taking many pictures during our family outings – I later realized that she was simply capturing moments not only for sentimental value but also for documentation. Because my mother was the only one who ever thought to document moments, particularly in my family, those images also served as visual time capsules to the events that other family members spoke but didn’t have a visual reference…my mother actually had the visual reference. Long story short, I later discovered that the role my mother played as the “family documentarian,” subconsciously I occupied the same space amongst my friend groups being the one who always had a camera, and was drawn to capturing the moment(s).”
(Referenced from an interview with Saatchi Art)
After exploring different aspects of photography, he started to learn what he was and wasn’t passionate about. This exploration eventually led him to get clear on his craft.
“After the first year of taking portraits[…]and doing event photography, I quickly learned that I wasn’t passionate about neither one of those and then I decided to focus more on lifestyle photography. What I liked about exploring lifestyle photography was that it was subjective and I felt like I had more creative freedom. I started getting commissions from brands to create content and aside from taking beautiful pictures, what I discovered is that I really loved the storytelling approach I developed in creating the content and eventually I honed in on that aspect, and that’s essentially my practice today…capturing moments to tell a story/narrative.
(Referenced from an interview with Saatchi Art)
Lorenzo founded a design studio and art book/zine publishing company, color bloc creativ (cbc press). With cbc, Lorenzo’s mission is to increase representation to include a more expansive range of narratives, backgrounds, and experiences that are often lacking within the art book publishing space.
“Since there’s usually a lack of representation or familiarity – it’s made me more intentional with my work. For example, the lack of the black representation in the art book publishing space – inspired me to want to get into publishing to share/control my own narrative. One of my noteworthy projects is The Simple Things Project. When I launched this project in 2015, my only intention was to release one zine and on Christmas Day. After receiving an abundance of support from volume 1, I was inspired to “keep this thing going” and ultimately I decided that I was going to release a minimum of four volumes (one per year).”
(Referenced from an interview with VoyageLA)
Visuals by Lorenzo Diggins Jr. and John Jenkins
He views the purpose of making zines as a vehicle for communication and connection.
“I believe the purpose of a zine varies and it really depends on the person who is creating it to define their why. Rather it be: an outlet for self-expression, a result of boredom, to share information and/or interest, to raise awareness, to document times, to make a statement, to encourage critical thinking, or simply to spark discussion - these are all the reasons I’ve created zines in the past. Aside from using zines to publish your own visual art, poetry, creative writing, musings, manifestos or any other ideas you want to bring to life in print form, by putting your zine out in the universe, you are essentially creating a unique opportunity to align and connect with like-minded people - your tribe.”
(Referenced from an article from Staples Connect)
He hosts zine-making workshops for schools, program, institutions, and family & friends experiences to facilitate creative activities and team building exercises.
“My zine-making workshops are a true labor of love and the objective is to expose as many people (with an emphasis on the youth) as I can to this experience in channelling their thoughts/ideas and expressing them creatively in book (zine) form. Nothing compares to the tangible experience of seeing an idea come to life and holding something that you’ve created in your hand. Also through these workshops, I teach that you can do a lot with a little especially when you simply start with what you have.”
(Referenced from Lorenzo Diggins Jr.’s website)
FIND PEACE. KEEP PEACE. is an independent print publication advocating for well-being. As the founder, editor, and creative director, Lorenzo explores the concepts of inner-piece through thought pieces, short stories, interviews, photography, illustration, painting, music, and poetry.
“The theme for the sophomore issue is exploring how people navigate the natural ebb and flow of life while also giving thought to our wellbeing; hence finding peace and keeping peace in the midst of it all.” —Lorenzo/cbc Press