THE ARTS

Billboard Aims at Gangs: A striking billboard image by local artist George Yepes depicting the results of gang violence will go up at 10 gang-plagued locations throughout the city this week. The billboard uses the classic Pieta image but with a startling difference--the grieving Virgin holds, instead of the body of the dead Christ, a teen-ager slain by gang violence. “It’s a real strong, emotional image,” said Yepes, who originally developed it as an altar mural for St. Lucy’s Catholic Church in City Terrace. “The virgin represents all the mothers, really, who have lost their kids to gangs.” The billboard, to be unveiled at a press conference today, contains the words “For the love of our Raza, stop the killings,” and a hot-line number. It’s sponsored by Councilman Mike Hernandez, with billboard space donated by Gannett Outdoor and Patrick Media.