Diana Paez: “Everyone’s stories are important”
Diana Paez is a Colombian, Australian-based filmmaker living and working in Ballarat who has had a storied career since she moved to Australia at the age of 19. With an award-winning feature documentary under her belt, the stories shared by Diana show the scale and importance of multiculturalism in Australia. She sees her own journey as a young migrant reflected in the stories she puts on screen, and is proud to recognise herself as a “part of the fabric” that makes Australia unique.
“It’s been a country built by [migrants] from everywhere, and one person is no more Australian than the other.”
She believes that everyone, no matter who they are or where they come from, has a story to tell, and that belief has been the primary motivator for her role as the Creative Producer of CMY Ballarat’s Living Stories project.
“With this project, I don’t want anyone to feel like an outsider, I want everybody to feel they belong, to feel comfortable in their skin, to share their ideas and be who they are.”
First, there were workshops run by local Ballarat artists that gave people of all backgrounds the opportunity to be storytellers through a variety of mediums: multimedia collages, body movement performances, spoken word poetry and documentaries.
“We created space for storytelling by having people that feel differently, think differently, and have lived differently in the same place and giving them the tools and skills for free.”
Diana had multicultural young people open up to themselves, instead of someone else, with self-written letters addressed to their younger selves.
“There was [someone] who wrote three letters to himself, and you get to see a progression throughout. Others wrote one letter with many commonalities, which was beautiful as well.”
But the culmination of the project is “Mosaic of Voices”. First, there is “Mosaic of Voices: Video Poems”, which came up spontaneously and organically as a result of Diana’s approach as Creative Producer.
“In one of the workshops, this young person wanted to share a poem, and it was incredible. So, I thought it’d be amazing to do a video of this.”
It grew from there to include a few other young poets and artists of Ballarat. Through these video poems, Diana and the poets explored the feelings and struggles of being neurodivergent, the relationship of someone and their migrant parents, and how a young woman from a refugee background found comfort in her children and her art.
“They’re all different, but there is something similar in all of them,” and Diana feels honoured to have been “the channel” for these poems to take on new life.
The other aspect of “Mosaic of Voices” is soon to be unveiled. After seeing the convergence of cultures and experiences all throughout the Living Stories project, Diana knew she had to spotlight the young people who were a part of it and do justice to their stories. She sat down to talk with multicultural young people aged 14 to 21 about their passions, hopes, dreams and discontentment; resulting in over eight hours of footage. That has been edited into “Mosaic of Voices: the Short Film”, which will be featured in the bi-annual Ballarat International Foto Biennale on 25 September.
“Everyone’s stories are important, and the impact they can have is incredible… their feelings and thoughts and experiences are extremely valid, especially [where they are] in their lives right now, and it’s beautiful just to give voice [to it] and validate it.”
With “Mosaic of Voices”, Diana hopes that people will learn what she learnt while being part of the project: that everyone’s stories are worth preserving and celebrating, and they should not let anything – not other people’s opinions or their own insecurities – get in the way of them being told fully.
“I hope we learn to listen deeply to diverse voices — because that’s how communities truly learn and grow.”