The artist is identified only as Stevie S., a person who is currently incarcerated in the United States and identifies as L.G.B.T.Q. The piece is titled “Acceptance.”

“On the Inside” opened during Pride month in Los Angeles in June, and might have fallen under the radar this summer for visitors and California art lovers. But the show packs an undeniable punch, pushing boundaries in both subject matter and curation. Prison art is usually associated with political prisoners, as well as the injustices and dangers of being incarcerated. Sexuality for its own sake is rarely a focus.

“You’re technically not allowed to have sex, but people in prison are. The institution deals with the rules but not the reality,” said Tatiana von Furstenberg, the L.A.-based filmmaker and producer who teamed up with Black and Pink, an online L.G.B.T.Q. inmate advocacy organization, to create the exhibition. It had its premiere in New York in 2016 and runs until Sept. 8 in Los Angeles.

“All the art is pretty much on letter-size paper. Those are the only materials available: pencils, Bic pens. That to me says it all,” she said. “That speaks to the resilience and the power of the human spirit in every way.”

Viewers can send Stevie S. and all the other artists in the show personal text messages, deliverable with a numerical code, to a telephone number listed on the opening wall. Every two weeks, the organizers of “On the Inside” print the messages and mail them to the incarcerated artists. It’s a nod to the pen-pal tradition of prison culture in the United States, which is increasingly being seen as a harm-reducing salve for those behind bars.