TAMPA, Fla. – Jabari Reed Diop, a local young artist, is getting featured with a dual exhibit which hopes to spread the joy and love beyond Florida.

What You Need To Know

  • Fairgrounds St. Pete artist Jabari Reed Diop unveiled his collaborative art display with Tampa International Airport 

  • AKA "iBOMS" the latest art installation is spreading the joy and engaging travelers with a virtual Duck Hunt 

  • You can purchase the rubber ducks and scan a QR code to show its travels

Fairgrounds St. Pete is hosting Jabari, one of the original artists at this immersive art experience.

Tampa Bay visitors get a sneak peek as they arrive at Tampa International Airport.

The latest Fairground's St Pete installment, which started its pop-up collaboration with TPA in the beginning of May, gives attendees a glimpse of Jabari’s local inspirations.

"We're walking down the wildlife corridor. My installation is called Prince of the Bayou,” said Jabari. “And it's my character interacting with different legendary animals in the area. So, you have an osprey, a baby jaguar, you have a gator, you have a great horned owl, manatee and a merlin falcon."

The homegrown talent from St. Petersburg dropped some knowledge about his artwork and the philosophy behind it.

"Sometimes the wrong entities get a hold of your innocence, and you have to make peace with them to get it back,” he said as he moved towards the section which shows his character hugging a manatee. “And this one is just understanding love."

Spreading joy and the love is also what this exhibit is all about.

Jabari was at Tampa International Airport for the big reveal of his mini-version installation with his team from Fairgrounds St. Pete who are excited about the project.

"We're just thrilled by it, and we got a statistic that 70,000 people will walk by Jabari's artwork every day at the airport," said Fairgrounds St. Pete C.E.O. Liz Dimmitt.

Part of the exhibit hopes to travel beyond the Tampa terminal.

Fans or simply travelers can get a hold of the rubber ducks featured in Jabari's work and take off on a fun adventure.

"Leave them around, take them on vacations, spread the joy around the world and people can scan the QR code and say where in the world the duck ended up," said Dimmitt.

For Jabari, the work helps to share his inspiration as well.

"So, this one is called the Bloom Ducks. It's a play on the…there's an anime called The Boondocks and as a black anime, it just inspired my style so much and this is an homage to that."

Jabari is sharing his vision, which he hopes also gets shared around the world.