Backstreet Cultural Museum

The Backstreet Cultural Museum in New Orleans traces back to Sylvester Francis, a self-taught cameraman in Treme who spent years filming Mardi Gras Indians and jazz funerals just so he could hand the people in his photos a copy. You'll hear how a chief named Victor Harris walked in one day and donated his own costume, and how a shuttered neighborhood funeral home ended up housing feathers and shells instead of caskets. Inside are suits sewn from ostrich plumes, marabou feathers, and thousands of tiny cowrie shells, each one worn once on Mardi Gras morning before its maker starts the next from scratch. Look closely at the beadwork and count how long a single suit like that must take to sew.