Westport mural honors Kansas City drag artists dating back to the 1870s

Jared Horman’s art is stippled throughout Kansas City: he recently painted a Chappell Roan mural in Midtown, added a World AIDS Day mural to the side of KC CARE Health Center in 2020, and redesigned the official KC flag in 2023 with a simplified concept. His latest project in Westport is newly finished, and recognizes local drag artists going back over a century.

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Jared Horman with the finished mural; photo by John Brant

Located at 208 Westport Road, on the side of Passions KC, the mural features 18 artists in a colorful, Warholesque grid. The header reads: “If life’s a drag, Kansas City’s been living.” Prominent artists featured, spanning from the late 1800s to modern day, include Julian Eltinge, Mr. Half-and-Half, Sandy Kay, Melinda Ryder, and Charity Case.

Horman, who is also the creative director and founder of Happy Horman Designs, said the pop art reference was chosen because of how Warhol has influenced how we experience pop culture.

“Drag is about picking and choosing different things and references from pop culture and giving them a new life, a new story, a new personality,” Horman said. “I thought it would be fun for the mural to kind of hold all of these different pieces.”

This September will mark 10 years since Horman moved to Kansas City, and during that time, he’s established himself as a core artist in the area. His newest mural is consistent with the message of the public art he has created over the years, he said.

“Talking about HIV and AIDS, celebrating queer female artists from Missouri, and drag all feel like they come from the same part of me that cares about our history and how much it shapes our future, while we don’t need to be beholden to the past,” Horman said. “I want to celebrate this history amidst a challenging environment for queer people. But for me, it’s about celebrating the joy.”

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Horman poses with the bottom right square of the mural; photo by John Brant

It was meaningful to have the mural’s debut during Pride Month and the World Cup, which increases its visibility, Horman said. Before Passions KC reached out to him and SprayKC, Horman had already been working on the design in conversation with other local queer organizations to commemorate the city’s history of uplifting drag queens with public art.

“Drag is one of the most living art forms today. Folks talk about preserving ballet and opera, painting, and sculpture, which are rooted in a lot of tradition,” he said. “Drag has the power to have commentary in a quick, meaningful, and artistic way, and that feels very 2026.”