More than a decade after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina left much of New Orleans in shambles, many low-income neighborhoods still look as if the deadly 2005 storm just happened yesterday. In the absence of any real investment to rebuild these mostly black neighborhoods, artist Brandan “BMike” Odums has taken matters into his own hands.

Through beautiful, colorful spray painted murals of historical African American figures like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Harriet Tubman, Odums attempts to refresh the aesthetic of abandoned and decaying sites. 

“Seeing a 12-foot painting of a person of color, it immediately asks a question of why it’s this large: It must be valuable,” Odums told The Huffington Post.

Instilling that feeling of value is exactly what motivated the New Orleans native to use his art in this way. Odums strategically places his murals on rundown properties in neglected neighborhoods as a means of celebrating the resilience, beauty and pride of the people who reside there. “[The art is] just to feel like you matter and you have value, so people can see themselves reflected in this portrait of Mohammed Ali or Maya Angelou,” he said.

The artist began his passion project in 2013 when he spraypainted an abandoned housing project in the lower 9th Ward.

Since then, Odums has launched “Exhibit Be,” and recruited dozens of other artists to help him expand his multistory art show. With the support of Bill Thomason, a director at the RDLN Foundation – a small nonprofit dedicated to charitable building projects – Odums and his team continue to celebrate black pride, beauty and power through art.