SPOTLIGHT: Festival Coordinators Diane Avila & Diana Solís
In 1975, I had given birth to my daughter. And I really felt that I was very prepared, I had done a lot of reading. I had taken great effort to take care of myself. But when I interacted with the hospital during labor and delivery, I really felt that the experience was not good. I don't think there was good relationship between the doctors and there were some good nurses, but there was a real lack of respect for patients and families. So afterwards, I revisited and did more reading, talked to more people, talked to some doctors. And I came up with a prenatal curriculum to prepare women for advocating for themselves, taking control of their care. Both of their own care of their bodies, but also in engaging the healthcare system. -Diane Avila, Festival Coordinator
My mom lived not very far from the Mujeres storefront. And every day when I would visit her, I would pass the storefront and I would see it and it would say "Mujeres Drop-in Center". One day I got up enough nerve that I actually dropped in. I brought my curriculum and I said, "Hey, you're a woman's agency. This comes from my life experience and it's well-researched. You can have it and offer it to women". They invited me to a board meeting and I met the board members. And they said, "Well, we don't have much in the way of staff. Why don't you teach it?." And that's how I got involved with them. At first, I volunteered by teaching that course. Then I was offered a position. I think they got a grant and they were able to hire me. I was about 21.... At Mujeres, I walked into their storefront and they didn't say "you don't have a college degree," right? They didn't limit me based on credentials. They opened to possibility based on what I was bringing to the table. -Diane Avila, Festival Coordinator (cont.)
Festival Coordinator Diane Avila (Faran) was born in Pilsen, where she lived until 1979. She attended parochial schools with her friend Maria Saucedo, first Pilsen’s St. Vitus Elementary School and then Holy Family Academy. Working at Mujeres Latinas en Acción from 1975 [check] to 1979, she conducted health education outreach in Pilsen. “We went where women were. We went in the high schools, we went in the clinics. We didn't expect people to come to us.” She recalls that Mujeres recognized women's skills and experiences, no matter their age or background. “There was a spirit of everyone has a place at the table… There was an acceptance that everybody brings something different and that we could all learn from each other.” With her dedication to women’s and community health, while she was at Mujeres, Avila pursued a summer program on indigenous healing practices through Rush Medical School, where she was encouraged to pursue a medical degree by Dr. Roxanne Cumming. After the Festival in 1979, Avila moved to San Diego and started college again with a new science focus at San Diego State University. As a student at Harvard Medical School, she was part of a Latino student group with mostly students from the Western U.S. Since graduating from medical school in 1990, Dr. Avila Faran has specialized in Geriatrics, Internal Medicine, and Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Diana Solís was born in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico and grew up in Pilsen, Chicago. She is a visual artist, photographer, and educator whose work includes photography, painting, illustration, printmaking, comics, public murals, and installation. She is inspired by Mexican and Chicano culture, memory, cautionary tales, oral and personal histories, queer identities, and narratives. Her work examines notions of place, identity, and belonging. Hybridization and the convergence between humans and nature are recurring themes in her paintings and illustrations. Central to Solís’s practice is her commitment to sharing her knowledge and process in collaboration with youth, immigrant families, and adults to engage and support them in creating art from their point of view.
As a teaching artist for four decades, Solís has taught students of diverse backgrounds and ages in a wide range of settings that include community organizations, public schools, museums, and special residency programs. Recent projects in photography include working with students at Benito Juarez Community Academy to create a series of works related to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on their lives. Solís has several exhibitions of her photography scheduled, including Images on Which to Build, which will travel to the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2022 and the Leslie Lohman Museum in New York City, in 2023.