On Sunday, August 17th, Baton Rouge Gallery will host West Baton Rouge Museum’s Executive Director, Angélique Bergeron, along with artists Malaika Favorite and Jonathan Mayers in a panel discussion about the Kont Kréyol-yé project: the stories, translations, and illustrations currently featured in an exhibition and publication at the West Baton Rouge Museum.. As with all Sundays@4 events, this will be free and open to the public.
Hear about the Kont Kréyol-yé project: the stories, translations, and illustrations currently featured in an exhibition and publication at the West Baton Rouge Museum.
Cover image by Keith Cartoon Man” Douglas
Kont Kréyol-yé (Creole Folktales), is based on the 1931 LSU Master’s thesis by Lafayette Jarreau, which recorded Creole folktales in both Pointe Coupee and West Baton Rouge Parishes. The exhibit will be on display through October 12, 2025 at the West Baton Rouge Museum.
This exhibit brings to life the rich tradition of storytelling through the folklore collected by Lafayette Jarreau, a Pointe Coupee native whose thesis preserves the Creole language and humor. Featuring artwork created by Louisiana Creoles who have visually interpreted these tales, the exhibit highlights the creative legacy of the Creole community. Artists include Malaika Favorite, Keith “Cartoonman” Douglas, Jonathan Mayers, George Marks, Henry Barconey, and Henry Watson, among others.
About the presenters:
Angélique Bergeron, Ph.D. - WBRM Executive Director
A native of Chemin Neuf (aka New Roads), Louisiana, Angélique was immersed in her family's Creole language and culture from a young age. While teaching high school French in Austin, Texas, her students inspired her to return to Louisiana for grad school while there were still native Creole speakers to interview and work with in her hometown. She received her Master's (2006) and Doctorate (2011) from LSU's Department of French Studies. While still in grad school, she began her career in area museums, first with the Pointe Coupée Historical Society and for the last decade with the West Baton Rouge Museum (curator 2014-2017 & director 2017-present).
Malaika Favorite
Malaika received her BFA (1971) and MFA (1973) in art from LSU Baton Rouge, LA. Her artwork is featured in: Art: African American by Samella Lewis, African American Art and Artist, also by Samella Lewis, Black Art in Louisiana by Bernardine B. Proctor and the St. James Guide to Black Artists, by Thomas Riggs. Her works are in the following collections: Absolut Vodka, Morris Museum of Art, Augusta GA; Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria LA.; The Coca Cola Company, Atlanta GA.; Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, Atlanta GA, and The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati, Ohio. She has two commissioned outdoor murals in Atlanta GA, one on Auburn Ave. (2007), and another on White Street (2009). Malaika is the 2018 recipient of the Michael Crespo Fellowship. In 2023 Malaika created a mural for the West Baton Rouge Juke Joint building. She also created a series of murals for Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando Florida and Disneyland in CA for the entrance to the new Tiana Bayou Ride.
Jonathan Mayers
Image credit: Est-Nord-Est | Jean-Sébastien Veilleux photographe.
Jonathan Joseph Mayers, radbwa faroush, is a Louisiana Creole artist from Baton Rouge, where he served as poet laureate from 2021-2023. He works specifically with his cultural and linguistic heritage, Kouri-Vini (the endangered Creole language of Louisiana) and Louisiana French. Mayers, represented by Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans, paints images and writes tales of mythological creatures in familiar landscapes, incorporating these same physical landscapes by using natural materials cultivated from his environment. His works evoke themes such as environmentalism, kréyolité, and postcolonialism. He infuses his work as Latannyèrzism, which bring together visual arts, language, and the land. Mayers has been an artist-in-residence at Centre SAGAMIE, Est-Nord-Est, and A Studio in the Woods. Creating culturally meaningful projects, he is co-editor of Févi and the curator of Kont Kréyol-yé, Mitoloji Latannyèr, and Mythologies Louisianaises. Mayers’ work can also be found in Tír na nÓg, Latær Lèv, Folklore Figures of French and Creole Louisiana, Ancrages No 30. Traces, Feux Follets and has been featured on TEDxBatonRouge. Mayers holds a BFA from Louisiana State University, an MFA from the University of New Orleans, and is currently a Doctoral Fellow of Francophones Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Sundays@4 is presented in partnership with the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area whose mission is to enhance the identity of our unique American landscape by preserving and promoting our heritage and by fostering progress for local champions that create authentic, powerful connections between people, culture, and the environment.