A Los Angeles County artist will unveil his heartwarming mural honoring the life of a little boy caught in the middle of a horrific crime.
Barely a second goes by without Juan Pablo Reyes not thinking about Gabriel Fernandez.
“He’s always here with us,” he said. “The signs are everywhere. There’s a 28 at the back of the stop sign, and that was the number of his classroom. Here he said, I want my mural.”
Gabrielito was born in Pacoima before moving to Palmdale with his mother and her boyfriend. More than a decade ago, Fernandez endured months of abuse, starvation and torture before ultimately dying at the couple’s hands.
“I use art as a bridge to bring people together and empower each other through common humanity to heal each other, because you can’t heal what you don’t reveal,” Reyes said.
He added that raising awareness about child abuse and neglect is part of the healing process.
“If we don’t do it, who’s going to do it,” Reyes said. ‘It is our duty as gente [Spanish for people] of the community to raise awareness about child abuse and child neglect.”
Now, eleven years after Gabriel’s death, Reyes is painting a beautiful mural in memory of a little boy with big dreams – dreams that were taken from him.
“On the right side of the mural we see Jesus holding Gabrielito,” Reyes said. “Then we have eight doves. The eight doves represent his age when he passed away and then we have a beautiful message that says while we are in heaven.”
Every stroke Reyes makes represents a bittersweet memory of a special boy who continues to touch people’s lives.
“Sometimes the messenger is the message,” he said. “He symbolized that change can happen within the system.”
Reyes also hopes it will remind people to take action when they see abuse.
“If you see something, say something,” he said. “We’re going to save lives.”
The Gabriel Fernandez mural will be unveiled on October 5 at 10:30 am at 13180 Van Nuys Blvd, Pacoima, CA 91331.
