Photographer Dana Lixenberg’s 22-Year-Long Series In One Of LA’s Oldest Housing Projects


Dana Lixenberg

Photographer Dana Lixenberg is the woman behind a whole stack of iconic images of your favourite rappers of yesteryear. A slightly worse-for-wear Puff Daddy laying cocooned on a bed in a fluffy towelling robe surrounded by archaic communication devices, Biggie Smalls counting 50 dollar bills in an acid-tripping jumper, a doe-eyed Tupac gazing soulfully into the camera lens: looking through Dana’s archive brings a needle and thread to all the uncredited images you’ve seen floating around the internet but never had a clue as to their origins.

More info: Imperial Courts Project (h/t: itsnicethat)


Dana Lixenberg

Dana’s series, Imperial Courts, 1993-2015, which as the title suggests was captured in Imperial Courts, a social housing project in LA: one of the city’s oldest. It all started when, in the aftermath of race riots in 1992, Dana was commissioned by Dutch publication Vrij Nederland to photograph the city’s reconstruction. From there, a 22-year long project grew to span a book, exhibition and web documentary, Imperial Courts which tells the story of a place which became the epicentre of rioting against racial discrimination by the project’s African American residents in 1965 and 1992.


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg


Dana Lixenberg

If you want more awesome content, subscribe to Design You Trust Facebook page.

More Inspiring Stories

Spectacular Winning Photos Of AAP Magazine Awards “Shapes 2024”

Katy Perry as Elizabeth Taylor

Life Before World War II: Fascinating Color Photographs Capture Everyday Life in Budapest, Hungary in 1939

Christmas in New York: Rare Photos from Turn of the Century

Creatures of Jurassic Era

Father Of Six Takes Magical Pictures Of His Kids As They Grow

Sad And Depressive Black-White Conceptual Artworks By The Russian Photographer Victoria Ivanova

UK Landscape Photographer Of The Year Awards

Neon, Moody And Cinematic Nightscapes Of Shanghai And Beyond By Victor Chiang

Get Lost In The Majesty Of These Incredible Photos From Australia

Ballantine’s Presents Benjamin Von Wong’s Underwater River

Rural Daily Life In A Small Tuscany Village Beautifully Photographed By Marco Sgarbi

UK Army Photographic Competition

Street Artist Projects Fashionista Animals On Buildings In Paris

Don't Hassle The Hoff!: Cheesy Portraits Of David Hasselhoff Like You Have Never Seen

Satellite Eye on Earth: March 2012

A Completely Fascinating Collection Of Historical Photos

Portraits of a Young Elizabeth Taylor Taken by Peter Basch on the Set of ‘Giant’ in 1955

Photographer Mark Fearnley Captures City Streets In Minimalist Geometric Pictures

Rare And Sentimental Photographs Of Homeless Children In Soviet Union In The 1920s

Photographer Ryosuke Kosuge Capures The Kengo Kuma-Designed Bookshelf Theater In The Kadokawa Culture Museum

Model's Underwater Shoot with Whales

This Artist Turns Real Photos Into Beautiful One-Line Minimalist Drawings

Spectacular Underwater Winners from the 2025 reFocus Photographer of the Year Awards

Beautiful Winning Photos from the 2025 British Wildlife Photography Awards

Golden Globes 2020: Discover The Sumptuous Portraits Of The Winners

Let #GandalftheGuide Show You The Beauty Of New Zealand In This Photo Series

Spectacular Winning Photos from the National Geographic Traveller 2025 Competition

Japanese Photographer Brings Action Figures To Life In Impressive Shots

Dark, Surreal And Moody Photo Works By Simon Kerola