More than 50 people gathered at Monterey County Juvenile Hall on Friday, Sept. 25 to unveil a large, colorful mural honoring two deceased juvenile institution officers, Edwardo Alfaro and Florencio Lopez.
The mural covers a large wall, about 10 by 80 feet. It has two birds on the sides: a hawk and a hummingbird; grapes and grapevines; and at the center, two large sunflowers with the faces of the two officers on a blue sky background. The mural symbolizes resilience, growth and freedom.
“That was the intention. I'm gonna get rid of this wall. I'm gonna erase it and make it a window, like an open window to give people a sense of freedom,” Fabian Debora, a Chicano muralist and the founder and executive director of the Homeboy Art Academy, an extension and division of Homeboy Industries, told the crowd.
The mural is the culmination of a 16-week art program. The group includes juveniles affiliated with Sureños and Norteños gangs, and they worked with Debora to bring the mural to life.
Debora, who is a former gang member and suffered from substance abuse, says the art program is based on healing with art, and for him it’s an intimate conversation. It’s a tool where participants learn about themselves and how to express themselves through art and verbally about their feelings and life experiences.
“Arts have more sense of freedom of expression, which doesn't come as threatening. It helps defend. It helps them to drop their defenses and be able to articulate in a much deeper level,” Debora added.
"Every time I come out here and run, right? I'm not just looking at an everlasting white wall,” CC said during the unveiling. (Salinas Valley Now agreed to identify the participants by their initials only, consistent with confidential juvenile justice system record-keeping.) “I get to look at something and take pride in what me and my peers took part of.”
“It was very therapeutic just being there with everybody, painting, talking with the guys. Some of the conversations were pretty deep, just talking about life, just challenging each other on turning viewpoints with Fabian too,” RG says.
Michael Palmer, Juvenile Hall division director, says participants were “learning without knowing” during the project. Juvenile Hall has collaborated with Homeboy for the past four years.
This is the second mural Juvenile Hall has unveiled in Salinas in collaboration with Homeboy Art Academy. The first mural, painted by those incarcerated in the facility, focuses on agricultural workers and migration.
Members from different county departments and organizations attended the event, including probation, the defender’s office, Community Partnership for Youth, and Homeboy Industries, as well as representatives from Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo and U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren's, D-San Jose, offices.