Museum of Public Art & Jangala Retreat

MUSEUM OF PUBLIC ART

Old South Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Founded by Kevin Harris, the Museum of Public Art brought artists from around the world to Old South Baton Rouge to create large-scale works in public space. The murals were conceived not simply as works of art, but as a way of investing in a neighborhood—strengthening community identity, drawing attention to its history and culture, and creating visible evidence that the people and places within it were worthy of attention and investment.

Working alongside residents, artists, and young people, the Museum sought to make art part of the life of the neighborhood rather than something placed apart from it. For two summers, local high-school students participated in a summer arts program that included painting and direct engagement with the larger public-art project.

**Student painting during the Museum of Public Art summer youth program, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2013**
*Museum of Public Art*

Julian“Seth” Malland from Paris, France with students participating in the Museum of Public Art summer youth program, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2013

**Students and participants in the Museum of Public Art summer youth program, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2013**
*Museum of Public Art*

**Mural portrait of Kevin Harris by Smug and Belin, Baton Rouge, Louisiana**
*Artists: Smug (Sam Bates), Scotland · Belin (Miguel Ángel Belinchón Bujes), Spain · Museum of Public Art*

**Jimmy C painting a portrait of a community resident, Baton Rouge, Louisiana**
*Artist: Jimmy C, London, England · Museum of Public Art*

**DAZE and Pose2 painting a mural, Baton Rouge, Louisiana**
*Artists: DAZE (Chris Ellis), New York City · Pose2 (Maxx Moses) · Museum of Public Art*

**Kevin Harris in front of a mural by Rahmaan “Statik” Barnes, Baton Rouge, Louisiana**
*Artist: Rahmaan “Statik” Barnes, Chicago · Museum of Public Art*

TEDxLSU

IIn his 2018 TEDxLSU talk, Kevin Harris discusses the Museum of Public Art and the potential of aerosol art to transform public space, strengthen community identity, and alter perceptions of neighborhoods and the people who live within them.

JANGALA RETREAT

San Rafael, Peru · 2010–2015

Kevin Harris created Jangala Retreat on the Amazon River near the village of San Rafael outside Iquitos, Peru. The retreat developed through a close relationship with the surrounding land and community. The people who built and worked at Jangala came from San Rafael, and much of the wood used in its construction came directly from the property or was sourced locally.

Trees were cut in the forest, milled into beams and planks, and carried by hand to the building site. Harris also introduced locally growing bamboo as a construction material. The land became productive as well: rice was grown and açaí was planted. Over time, Jangala’s relationship with San Rafael extended beyond construction and employment to community activities and contributions, including a boat motor donated to the village through Jangala’s manager, Andres, and a Christmas celebration for the community.

**Workers from San Rafael carrying locally harvested timber for the construction of Jangala Retreat, Peru**
*Jangala Retreat*

**Bamboo framework under construction at Jangala Retreat, San Rafael, Peru**
*Locally grown bamboo was introduced as a building material at Jangala Retreat.*

**Workers from San Rafael constructing Jangala Retreat with locally harvested and milled timber, Peru**
*Jangala Retreat*

**Workers from San Rafael carrying harvested rice grown at Jangala Retreat, Peru**
*Jangala Retreat*

**Kevin Harris with Remegio, a forest guide from San Rafael, Peru**
*At approximately ninety years old, Remegio guided Jangala visitors through the primary forest.*

Remegio was about ninety when Harris met him. Barefoot, he could still outpace Harris through the forest. He guided Jangala visitors on the five-hour journey into the primary forest to an immense kapok tree, where its buttress roots rose high above the people standing between them. In Harris’s encounters with shamans in San Rafael, the kapok was understood as a tree of particular spiritual significance, a place associated with ayahuasca rituals and shamanic practice. Among the tallest and oldest trees of the rainforest, great kapok trees had become increasingly difficult to find as logging reduced their numbers.

PROJECTS