After three years, the mural of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez is finally completed in the community where he was loved – Pacoima. Painted by local artist Juan Pablo Reyes, JP Murals, the mural honors the young boy and provides awareness of child abuse.
“We felt that it was time to bring Gabriel home to where he knew happiness and where the good memories of him were,” said Gabriel’s cousin Emily Carranza.
“[We also want] to bring child abuse awareness to this community,” she added. “We want children and family members to know that they are not alone, and there are resources for them to get help, even if they’re afraid to speak up.”
Gabriel made headlines after his murder and the trial that followed – revealing the horrific details of emotional and physical abuse he suffered in Palmdale at the hands of his mother, Pearl Fernandez, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, both now serving a sentence of life in prison. The system failed him, with reports of severe abuse dismissed by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).
“[People] feel [because of] what Gabriel endured, that he was never loved, that he didn’t know happiness,” said Carranza.
Although the last period of his life living with his mother in Palmdale was tragic, Carranza said Gabriel experienced love and compassion in the first six and a half years of his life, living down the street from where the mural now stands.
“In Pacoima, where he lived with his grandparents, family members and siblings, Gabriel knew love,” she said. “This is why we’ve been so dedicated for the past three years to find this wall and to bring him home. Because this is where we have fond memories of him.”
The Unveiling
After Reyes spent over two weeks painting, on Saturday, Oct. 5, the community gathered on the corner of Van Nuys Boulevard and Ralston Avenue in Pacoima for the unveiling of “Gabriel’s mural.”
The mural was blessed before Gabriel’s cousins, Carranza and Olivia Rubio, artist Reyes and Jonathan Hatami, the lead prosecutor in the Gabriel Fernandez case, all spoke.
Then at last, the reason people stood so long under a hot sun, the massive draping that had concealed the mural was dropped, revealing Gabriel’s unmistakable portrait over a deep blue background.
Above the wall, a red sign with white lettering was put up – it reads, “You Are Not Alone.”
To the right of Gabriel’s portrait is the poem “As I Sit in Heaven” with doves flying above and a monochromatic image of Gabriel being held by Jesus.
The Hazel Birdsall poem is on the mural, chosen by his family:
As I sit in Heaven and watch you every day
I try to let you know with signs that I never went away
I hear you when you’re laughing and watch you as you sleep
I even place my arms around you to calm you as you weep
I see you wish the days away, begging to have me home
So I try to send you signs so you know you’re not alone
Don’t feel guilty that you have life that was denied to me
Heaven is truly beautiful, just you wait and see
So live your life, laugh again, enjoy yourself, be free
Then I know with every breath you take
You’ll be taking one for me.
“His spirit is still alive. He’s in no more pain. He’s not in agony. He’s in pure bliss,” said Carranza. “He’s looking down at us. He’s seeing the work we’re doing for him.”
A butterfly flew by during the unveiling, prompting Rubio to note, “He’s always around, believe me.”
Reyes thanked everyone who supported making the mural possible, calling it a “community effort.”
“I’m so glad that we were able to bring Gabriel back home,” said Reyes, further reflecting on the suffering that Gabriel endured.
“When they found him, he had a cracked skull. He had ribs broken, he had teeth missing. Like my mom tells me, ‘unos sufren mas que otros,’ (some suffer more than others),” Reyes said while trying to hold back tears.
“This mural is for all the children who are suffering in silence.”
Hatami said the mural serves as a reminder of children experiencing abuse.
“There isn’t a day that goes by in my life that I don’t think about Gabriel,” said Hatami.
“This mural stands for all the children in our community … who are being killed and murdered as a result of abuse. Children of color, children of lower socioeconomic areas, children that no one else seems to care about,” he continued. “This mural of Gabriel Fernandez will stand for them. For all the children who have no voice, who when they were abused, nobody saw them, nobody heard them. This mural will stand for them.”
The hotline numbers for child abuse and suicide prevention are painted at the top left corner of the mural.
Three Years in the Making
“It was like fate,” Carranza said about the mural location.
The pair of cousins struggled for three years to secure a location for the mural. Originally, they wanted it to be in downtown Los Angeles near the DCFS offices, to serve as a reminder of what happened to Gabriel. But Carranza said the “doors always closed” when they requested permission to paint the mural in the area.
During a news segment, the family announced they were searching for a wall for the mural. Although they received some location offers, Carranza said none were the right fit.
The broadcast, however, connected them to Reyes.
“We interviewed other muralists, and JP, growing up in the city of Pacoima, being a resident of Pacoima, you know, it just felt right,” Carranza said, adding that he’s “become part of our family.”
When Reyes and Rubio saw the wall on the side of Lidia’s Beauty Salon, the search was “miraculously” over. It had taken three years, but they finally found Gabriel’s wall.
“The person who helped us a lot is Ms. Lidia,” said Rubio. “The day JP and I came in to ask her if we could use her wall for the mural of Gabriel, she gladly replied ‘yes.’”
At first, Rubio said she couldn’t believe it. But every time she checked with Lidia, she was met with a loving enthusiasm for the mural.
“This is the wall where Gabriel wanted to be,” said Rubio, feeling that he guided her to the location. A small “stop child abuse” sticker affixed to a pole outside the shop caught her eye and felt more than a coincidence.
Finding a location was a major hurdle. They had overcome many. They were denied funding from every city official, but over the years, through fundraisers and donations, the two cousins raised $12,000 of the estimated $16,000 needed for the mural to pay for materials, permits and the artist fee.
“No funding came from the Board of Supervisors. No funding came from any city officials that we asked,” said Carranza.
Their luck may finally change now that they have a permitted location and the mural has only one final step to complete. The Pacoima Neighborhood Council is in the process of securing $4,000 that would go toward putting a protective coating over the mural – deterring any possible graffiti from affixing to it and preserving it for generations to come.
For the council to allocate funding through neighborhood purpose grants, permitting and a location should already be obtained, said Teodora Reyes, Pacoima Neighborhood Council board member.
“It’s really important to have all those details available, [to ensure] the funding goes through,” she emphasized.
Funding for the mural was approved by the Pacoima Neighborhood Council Arts and Culture Committee and will be put before the general board for final approval at their next meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
“While I can’t guarantee anything right now, I’m very confident that it will receive the funding for this project,” said Adrian Perez, chair of the Arts and Culture Committee.
Perez added that he was excited to support the addition of another beautiful work of art to Mural Mile – the famous stretch of roadway that “gives Pacoima its identity.”
“Gabriel’s mural” is noted for being much more than artwork.
Reyes said he received love and support from the community while painting the mural and also witnessed its healing power. He was serenaded by mariachis, brought water by neighbors and watched as an elderly woman touched the mural and through tears said, “I’m sorry that this happened to you.”
“This mural is gonna be able to heal people,” said Reyes, adding that it gives those who have experienced similar trauma, “that vulnerability and that courage” to begin talking about it.
“That’s where the healing process starts,” he said. “So it’s much more than a mural.”
Editor Diana Martinez contributed to this article.
To seek assistance contact:
Child Abuse Hotline: (800) 422-4453
Suicide Prevention Hotline: 988
Gabriel’s Justice:
facebook.com/Justice4Gabriel
Click here to view a livestream of the unveiling.