September 15, 2023
South Royalton, VT — Redlining Our Souls is an art show now up in the Dean Shirley A. Jefferson Gallery on campus at VT Law & Graduate School in South Royalton.
This show is thanks to Laura Di Piazza, an abstract artist who lives and works locally, and whose work shows nationally and internationally.
Redlining Our Souls offers the artist’s perspective through her use of redlined maps and original abstract work about the practice of redlining, defined as: “refuse (a loan or insurance) to someone because they live in an area deemed to be a poor financial risk”.
This show includes reproductions of redlining maps and description language issued by the defunct government-sponsored Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) highlighting blatant and coded racist housing segregation practices. The racist attitudes and language found in HOLC appraisal sheets and Residential Security Maps created by the HOLC gave federal support to real-estate practices that helped segregate American housing throughout the 20th century. [1]
[1] Freund, David M. P. Colored Property: State Policy and White Racial Politics in Suburban America. University of Chicago Press, 2010. Accessed September 2023.
red·line /ˈredˌlīn/
INFORMAL•NORTH AMERICAN
verb
drive with (a car engine) at or above its rated maximum rpm.
"both his engines were redlined now"
refuse (a loan or insurance) to someone because they live in an area deemed to be a poor financial risk. "banks have redlined loans to buyers"
Redlining Our Souls is free and open to the public daily, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm. Visit the VLGS library on Cornell Street (in SoRo off North Windsor St.) where you'll be directed to the Gallery space to experience this powerful exploration of Di Piazza's focus on social justice issues through her artistic lens.
Enjoy the show.
Dave Celone, vice president of alumni relations & development at Vermont Law and Graduate School, writes from Sharon, VT.