Studio BE and Homer Plessy Contemporary Mural

Why is it significant?

You stand before the towering exterior murals of Studio BE at 2941 Royal Street, one of the most monumental and celebrated contemporary public art installations in the United States.

Key Facts

Open the walk

You stand before the towering exterior murals of Studio BE at 2941 Royal Street, one of the most monumental and celebrated contemporary public art installations in the United States. Spanning an entire city block and encompassing thirty-five thousand square feet of repurposed industrial warehouse space, Studio BE was created in 2016 by visionary New Orleans visual artist, filmmaker, and activist Brandan "B-mike" Odums as a sanctuary dedicated to Black liberation, artistic resilience, and historical memory.

Look up at the immense, spray-painted exterior murals: colossal portraits of civil rights leaders, local culture bearers, and neighborhood children gaze out over the Bywater rooftops in radiant spray paint and acrylic washes, turning an ordinary corrugated-metal warehouse into a towering civic cathedral.

Odums began his artistic journey as an underground street muralist, painting portraits of Black revolutionaries like Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, and Martin Luther King Jr. inside abandoned public housing developments like the Florida and St. Thomas projects following Hurricane Katrina. When authorities condemned those buildings, Odums secured this former freight warehouse and launched "Project Be," inviting community members, school students, and youth organizers to contribute. Inside the cavernous warehouse, visitors walk among life-sized installations, suspended basketball hoops draped in gold chains, classrooms honoring civil rights martyrs, and towering canvases depicting local brass musicians and Mardi Gras Indian chiefs. The space also hosts youth workshops, poetry slams, and restorative justice forums, cementing its role as a vital neighborhood community institution. Outside along the perimeter walls, vibrant graffiti murals created in collaboration with national street artists turn the surrounding industrial blocks into an evolving outdoor gallery.

Looking into the eyes of Odums' towering painted figures, the emotional gravity and visual brilliance of the artwork are overwhelming. Studio BE demonstrates how public art can reclaim forgotten spaces, elevate marginalized histories, and inspire future generations.

Walk south toward the riverfront entrance of Crescent Park along Chartres Street.