BMike's Studio Be

Artist “BMike” has made a name for himself by transforming overlooked and abandoned spaces with art.

Following the years after Hurricane Katrina, BMike and other artists began creating murals in the city’s lower 9th Ward in hopes of reinstating hope and resilience in the neighborhood. When the Housing Authority of New Orleans boarded up that space, he took on another ambitious project of curating 35 street artists to cover the walls of a 360 unit apartment complex for three months in a project known as "Exhibit Be."

"Studio Be" is the first project by BMike to have started up legally, and despite the changing neighborhood around it, has continued to be open to the public since 2016. Inside a formerly abandoned warehouse, BMike has taken over the walls with his solo show “Ephemeral Eternal,” at 35,000 square feet, it may be one of the grandest, and longest running, solo art shows in the country.

Using the enormous walls of the sprawling warehouse, BMike has filled the space with massive murals and larger than life installations, which lead to uncommonly moving works. The art in the space tells stories about civil rights leaders, Hurricane Katrina, black history and contemporary culture. In addition to the issues touched on by the installations, Studio Be hosts school tours meant to teach students about lesser know black history figures.