In the studio with Malaika Favorite

Inside her studio, filled wall-to-wall with art pieces in various forms and mediums, Malaika Favorite says they all have something in common: They mean something to her.

“I try to build my shows around what seems important to me,” she says.

After studying at LSU, Favorite found herself living in other cities like Grambling, Louisiana, and Augusta, Georgia. But she ventured back to the Capital Region in 2016.

Her work has appeared everywhere from Baton Rouge Gallery to the West Baton Rouge Museum, and the city often plays a central character in her art. In a piece called “River Road,” she explores the impact of local chemical plants.

“My father was an environmentalist, and so I sort of stepped into his shoes,” Favorite says.

Each work of art has its own story, and she hopes that people don’t just look at a piece and think it’s pretty. She hopes they’ll also interpret what she is trying to say.

“If I have the eyes of the people or the ears of the people, I may as well say something,” Favorite says.

This article was originally published in the November 2025 issue of 225 Magazine.