Daniel Lanzilotta is a Bronx-born environmental artist, cultural storyteller, and activist whose work asks a deceptively simple question:

What happens when we stop treating things—and people—as disposable?

For nearly thirty years, Daniel has worked with plastic debris collected from shorelines, waterways, and streets, transforming discarded materials into sculpture and wearable art. He describes his practice as non-extractive art: rather than taking new materials from the earth, he works with what has already been taken, used, and discarded.

His work is not about turning “trash into treasure.” The discarded material is evidence—a physical record of a culture that consumes, uses, and forgets. Through refinement, assembly, scale, and form, Daniel makes that evidence difficult to ignore.

His practice extends beyond his creative studio. As a lecturer, educator, cultural storyteller, and host of BronxNet's Artivation TV: Artist Art Activism, he uses art and conversation to explore environmental responsibility, cultural memory, community, and social change.

Daniel is a 2026 Urban Environmental Health Lab Fellow, a 2024 Human Impacts Institute Creative Climate Awad recipient and has completed leadership training with Al Gore's Climate Reality Project and NYC Trash Academy. His work has been exhibited and presented nationally and internationally.

Born and raised in the Bronx, Daniel is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with a bachelor's degree in fine arts.

His conviction is simple: nothing and no one is disposable.

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