Women with the Word
Women with the Word performed by the Chicana Indigena spoken word and song group, In lak Ech, is a multi-media performance including song, poetry, and film highlighting the urban indigenous experience from Los Angeles, California and beyond. Singing voices share the language of women poets, organizers, mothers, teachers, and artists from the daily trenches and industrialized minds and jungles of L.A. This multi-layered performance transcends borders connecting communities, lives, and ancestral lands while singing to the winds and the water, for justice and dignity for the future generations and Mother Earth.
Biographies
In Lak Ech is a collective of Chicana women "artivists," which continues the work of the group Mujeres de Maíz (Women of Corn), considers art to be a vital component of community empowerment. They utilize performance as an educational tool, an opportunity for dialogue, and an instrument of resistance and change. They make use of an urban oral tradition that includes spoken word, drums, and song. Members: Marisol Torres, Liza Cohen Hita, Felicia Montes.
Marisol Torres is a performer and visual artist with a B.A. in Latin American Studies from California State University, Los Angeles. She was a writer and perfomer with the comedy troupe chUSMa, and is a co-founder of In Lak Ech, which she has worked with since its inception in 1997.
Liza Cohen Hita graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Political Science and History and received her Masters in Counseling from Northern Arizona University. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Arizona. She is a mother, liscensed counselor, dancer, artist, activist, and organizer who participates in art and traditional ceremonies as forms of healing and empowerment.
Felicia Montes is a Xicana indigenous artist, activist, academic, community organizer, poet, and performer. She is co-founder of In Lak Ech and of Mujeres de Maíz.