Image credit: Fabian Debora, Detail of "Wish you were here with me", 2024. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of the artist.

APRIL 29 – JUNE 28, 2025

Artist talk, walkthrough and short film screening of Love Letters by Sergio Torres
MAY 10, 2025 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Fabian Debora’s Love Letters presents ten intimate portraits of formerly incarcerated community members from Los Angeles, inspired by personal correspondence written to or from loved ones during their time served in prison. Each subject—diverse in backgrounds and experiences—shares messages of hope, longing, and resilience. By integrating excerpts from these letters into his portraits, Debora empowers each sitter to reclaim their own narrative.

Love Letters aims to foster dialogue on systemic inequalities such as the school-to-prison pipeline and societal reintegration, while encouraging viewers to look beyond reductive stigmas surrounding mass incarceration and perceptions of gang-affiliated individuals. Accompanied by a short film and book, this project serves as a vital place of self-reflection and communal healing, affirming that individuals are much more than their past.

Fabian Debora is an artist, educator, and community advocate who has devoted his career to using art as a tool for empowerment and social change. He began refining his craft with the muralist art collective and fine art studio East Los Angeles Streetscapers in the ’90s, he now mentors formerly incarcerated youth as the founder and Executive Director of the Homeboy Art Academy.

This exhibition is presented on the occasion of Love Letters: Finding Freedom Through the Act of Letter Writing, a Racial Equality & Social Justice Town Hall at East Los Angeles College. It is organized in collaboration with Homeboy Industries. All exhibitions are underwritten by the Vincent Price Art Museum Foundation and East Los Angeles College.