Billboards on the Coast is a visual meditation on resilience, as ‘style studies’ honor familial legacy as a source of joy. This work is a direct response to current efforts of mass deportation and its parallels to Operation Wetback in 1954.
The visual storytelling of this work showcases personal rituals and devotional altars aligned with ancestral experience. The use of double-exposed B&W film and color digital photography speaks to both the medium's history and cultural history captured over time. The richness of color and layers of double exposure are metaphors for the sensorial experience of déjà vu.
In collaboration with self-styled Chicana/o artists from New York & California, we explore how family histories find life in contemporary expression. Billboards on the Coast is a smile in the face of adversity.
What would you say if given the chance?
TEAM CREDITS
Photographer + Director: Deb Leal
Cinematographer: Ro Cruz
Digitech: Natalie Keyssar
1st Photo Assistant: Aaron Kassman
2nd Photo Assistant: Francely Flores
Makeup: Destiny Vaello
Nail Artist: Lesly Arranaga
Set Designer: Gabriel Cruz
Studio Managers: Ivana Cajina + Alexander Payson
Talent: Xitlalli Tijero, Van Xelo, Gerardo Cuautle Cuahuizo, Karewith Casas
Film Development: Swap Film in San Francisco, CA
Special Thanks: The Landucci Family, Fotocare NYC, Coco & Breezy Eyewear
Deb Leal
Photographer & Director
Deb Leal is a visual artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Influenced by roadside Americana and Chicano devotion, her photographic works observe the endurance of cultural memory through decisive timing, color, and composition. Early experiences on the road shape Leal's work with analog & digital processes, fueled by ritualistic drives from Milwaukee to Corpus Christi in her youth. The intentional treatment of color in this work represents surreal experiences of déjà vu.
Leal was invited to the 2025 New York Portfolio Review and holds commissions by editorial clients like The New York Times Magazine and Bon Appétit. Her work is archived in Fotofilmic’s JRNL 22, Musée Magazine no. 26: Spaces, and Aesthetica’s “Future Now 2023”. She has exhibited in galleries and festivals including: The deYoung Art Museum, The Tenderloin Museum, San Francisco, CA; Photoville, Brooklyn Bridge Park, NY; and PhotoVogue’s “Panorama Latino-Americano,” Milan, IT.
217 Centre Street, Floor 7
New York, NY 10013
East Coast: 212.279.2252
West Coast: 310.341.3132
Midwest: 312.735.8835
ALL VISUAL MATERIALS PRESENTED ON THIS WEBSITE ARE ORIGINAL WORKS BY THE AMP MENTEES ©2025. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THESE MATERIALS MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED, STORED IN A RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.
Designed by Kristine Arth of Lobster Phone & Darnell Scott / Site Development by Bruno Tatsumi + Mariana Torres of U.I.W.D & Darnell Scott