Google preserves Baton Rouge street art for a global audience

Parisian graffiti artist Seth Globepainter (aka Julien Malland) created “Lady Liberty” on the side of a Government Street building with the help of students from the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program and the Museum of Public Art. Image courtesy LASM

Graffiti art by its nature is temporary. Buildings and walls might get torn down. The art—sometimes done without permission—might get painted over.

But the Google Cultural Institute is trying to preserve that art in the digital realm, working to expand its archives of street art from all over the world. The one lone entry from Louisiana happens to be right here in Baton Rouge.

The Museum of Public Art, which for the last four years has been quietly adorning blighted walls in Old South Baton Rouge and other neighborhoods with eye-catching murals from some of the best international graffiti artists, worked with Google to share examples of those works on the Cultural Institute’s website.

Though the museum has a huge international following on social media, its director Kevin Harris rarely speaks to the press, preferring to let the art speak for itself.

Uploaded are high-resolution images and video examples of the more than 80 murals the museum has commissioned across the city that, even for us locals, can be sometimes hard to find on our own.

“The aim is to work with organizations to help make street art more accessible to anyone and for people to be able to enjoy and learn about [the artworks],” says Google Cultural Institute program manager Lucy Schwartz.

The local murals join the ranks of street art from Mexico City, Spain, Paris, South Africa, India and the Philippines, among others, that are now preserved online.

“There’s no aim to be comprehensive,” Schwartz says, “but to be able to show glimpses of what exists and what vital art scenes exist. It’s great for the artists and organizations, too, to reach a broader audience and have a cross collaboration.”

To browse the street art, go to google.com/culturalinstitute and search “Museum of Public Art.” Find out more about the local organization at museumofpublicart.org.

Read more about an exhibit at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum that’s highlighting Baton Rouge’s street art and public art scene.