ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. (KLFY) -- A Haitian art collector is bringing an exhibit to St. Landry Parish to tell the country's rich history.

Glenn Stokes owns one of the largest Haitian art collections in the world. Stokes wants to inform students around St. Landry Parish about Haiti's impact in Louisiana by opening an art exhibit at the St. Landry Parish Welcome Center.

Stokes wants to see schools bring their students to the art exhibit in the coming weeks.

"Haiti doesn't have a written history," Stokes said. "It has an art history. Art shows you everything that they knew."

Stokes has spent over 40 years visiting and working in Haiti. He began collecting art and developed a passion for helping the people who live there by funding travel, providing hospital care and providing art supplies.

Stokes said Haiti's history can be told through its art. He wants to share that history with Louisiana by opening art exhibits and highlighting Haiti's impression on the state.

Stokes said his goal is to invite students from schools around the parish to teach them about the art and the importance of Haitian culture.

"There wouldn't be a Louisiana Purchase," Stokes said. "It would be entirely different. There wouldn't be any plantations now that are this advanced, and there probably wouldn't have been any discovery of making sugar techniques as early as it was because there wouldn't have been any sugarcane."

Stokes plans to host a reception with parish officials on Aug. 24.

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