05/19/2026
To follow up on our story of Banksy’s “Boy on a Life Preserver Swing”, we’re proud to announce that the mural has been fully restored, brought back to life, and placed in the International House Hotel in New Orleans, alongside another Banksy work: “Looters”.
This was a special project that our team was fortunate to be apart of in 2022-2024. The mural was originally painted by Banksy in 2008 as a response to the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, was vandalized multiple times, was demolished, was salvaged from a pile of rubble in 2021 and sold to Sean Cummings - as 30 individual, vandalized, cinder blocks.
From 2022-2024, the piece was gentle restored with methods that preserved the historic integrity and the original materials. Elise Grenier, a preservationist with an impressive background, worked with manufacturers to determine the appropriate product to carefully remove the layers of paint that covered much of the mural due to vandalism.
Once the original painting was visible, our team was called to design and execute the best way to rebuild the mural. Our goal was to restore while maintaining the historic fabric of the mural. We designed a structure that would tell the story of this mural:
- A fragmented redesign, reminding people that the piece was once part of an existing wall but was destroyed, leaving only fragments;
- A mortar-less installation, leaving open masonry joints with only the original mortar still intact, keeping the visible parts of the piece entirely original;
- A plain, solid steel, base, as not to take away from the beauty of the mural;
Additionally, it was designed in a way to where it could be dissembled into 4 sections so it could be moved about the hotel and easily reconstructed. This involved a steel base, heavy-weight castors, connecting dowel rods, and supports.
We feel that this design preserves the visual evidence of natural disaster, vandalism, demolition, salvage, and restoration… it tells a story of the tragic loss and the unequivocal RESILIENCE of New Orleans.
Our team is proud to be a part of the restoration of another Banksy work of art!
These pieces remain on display at the International House Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana - and it’s worth a visit!
