To mark the one-year anniversary of the 1 January 2025 terrorist attack in the popular French Quarter district of New Orleans, a temporary public art installation has gone on view above Bourbon Street, transforming the area into a space for reflection and remembrance. Called Second Line in the Sky, the installation features lights and more than 800 prayer flags, welcoming locals and visitors to join in mourning and healing.
The attack on 1 January killed 15 people and left the city of New Orleans grieving. With the upcoming holiday season and anniversary of this event, the local restaurateur Katy Casbarian conceived of Second Line in the Sky, inspired by Christmas light displays she had seen in Regent Street in London.
“I’ve longed for a lighted holiday display in the French Quarter,” she says. “Earlier this summer I had the idea to tie in a memorial for the victims of the terrorist attack with a lighted holiday display. The lights are the draw to get people to the memorial to remember and reflect.”
Local restaurateur Katy Casbarian conceived the idea for Second Line in the Sky after being inspired by the Christmas lights above London's Regent Street Photo by David Nola
Suspended above Bourbon Street until 18 January 2026, Second Line in the Sky came together with Casbarian as lead collaborator, along with the architect and design firm Studio West, led by Jennie West.
“Since the attack, we were always thinking about what we could do to try and bring the community together again. The city hadn’t really come together since, which is understandable; the community’s trust was threatened,” West says. “When Katy came to us in the spring with such a clear vision, there wasn’t anything to question or consider; we both wanted to create something special and uniquely New Orleans so that we could capture a moment for the collective to honour, reflect and celebrate the many lives that were impacted.”
The team commissioned Babette Beaullieu, Margaret Crosby and Jan Gilbert, artists with ties to the city, to create the canopy of colourful flags. Each unique flag features imagery representative of New Orleans, including motifs alluding to the city’s rich musical history as the birthplace of jazz. Illuminated trumpets further this connection, and handkerchief and umbrella motifs nod to the second line tradition. Also referenced in the project’s title, the term refers to the crowds that follow parade bands, waving handkerchiefs and umbrellas as a celebration of both life and death.
Sewn into the flags are notes from survivors and the victims’ families, as well as photographs by local artists Judy Cooper and Jamall Tate. The colours of the flags—deep pinks, reds and purples—were chosen specifically to invoke healing and resilience.
The colours of the flags represent healing and resistance Photo by David Nola
“I have always felt that through art, healing can happen,” says Beaullieu. “New Orleans was so in need of healing and I wanted to help show everyone that we are a community of strength in a positive, loving and caring way—and that we are resilient. When I make something, I want it to be beautiful, and I hope others can feel that, too—finding their own version of beauty and seeing how hatred can be replaced with love.”
By adding illuminated elements, the team ensured the installation can be enjoyed during the day and at night, as Bourbon Street is at the centre of New Orleans’s nightlife scene, too.
“I hope that residents and visitors alike can feel—or at least see—what it’s like to come together in hardship,” says West. “There has been so much beauty, healing and volunteership that has captured the truly special and unique spirit of camaraderie throughout the entirety of this process, and I hope others were able to be reminded of the infectious energy of community that is so distinctive to New Orleans.”