Cancer center’s mural promotes representation in clinical trials, ‘could really save lives’
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Vania Soto sometimes has to clarify the story she is telling through her mural at Guadalupe Centers Middle School in Kansas City, Missouri.
“People have asked me if the mural is of people who passed away from cancer,” Soto, who has painted a dozen murals in the Kansas City area, told Healio. “I explain that this is a different kind of celebration of these people’s lives. This mural tells the story of people who went through cancer and survived it.”
The University of Kansas Cancer Center commissioned the mural in partnership with Masonic Cancer Alliance and Tico Productions LLC, a minority-owned multilingual marketing agency. It depicts the faces of four cancer survivors from underserved communities, beneath which are the words “Clinical Research Needs Representation.”
The mural is part of KU Cancer Center’s larger efforts toward increasing diversity in cancer clinical trials.
After conducting focus groups and a community survey, KU and its collaborators embarked on a community awareness campaign involving bilingual social media posts, YouTube videos, billboards and radio/TV ads.
KU Cancer Center designed the mural in cooperation with members of local community organizations. For the artist — who was born in Juarez, Mexico, and has connections with the local Hispanic community — one of the most important parts of the project will be something she didn’t paint.
“There is a QR code on the mural,” Soto said. “When you scan it, it brings you to KU Cancer Center’s clinical trial database and provides information on how to learn more about trials you might sign up for, depending on the type of cancer you have.”
Soto spoke with Healio about the origins of the project, the individual survivors she painted and what she hopes people who see the mural will take away from it.
Healio: How did you become involved in this project?
Soto: I’ve been a muralist for years now, and I’ve been doing murals all over the city. Tico Productions hired me to do the job. They thought about me for this project because the idea is to get the message out to the people we wouldn’t normally reach. Being a woman muralist really does say something in our city. I think that was the sentiment — it was a stronger message, a message of empowerment.
Healio: How did you come up with the idea for the mural?
Soto: KU Cancer Center wanted to focus on cancer survivors who had participated in clinical trials. One of the things they emphasized was that there are not enough options for people in our culture. Clinical trials work differently for different people, so if not enough people from certain populations enroll in trials, they’ll never find the best treatment for these patients. They wanted to highlight survivors who are nonwhite, and to celebrate them and put their faces up in the communities where they live. We want people to look at this and think, “Well, they went through these clinical trials and they survived. Why shouldn’t I?”
Healio: Do you know anything about the stories of the survivors you painted?
Soto: Yes, I do. I know about Paul Rojas, an older gentleman who has dealt with cancer several times in his life and survived every single time.
The thing about his story — and he owns this — is that he knew the people who informed him about the clinical trial. He knows that that is a privilege. He’s Mexican American, and in our culture it’s not common to be connected to someone who could lead us toward a clinical trial that nobody else has ever heard of.
Then there is Kim Jones, who has survived breast cancer a couple of times. She’s a leader and advocate for patients with cancer in the community. She’s a very strong woman. She’s also so magical: when you see her in person, she’s got glittery nails and a glitzy style and a character all her own. She’s also such a powerful voice in the way she represents women in her community going through exactly what she went through. She’s a great leader and I tried to capture that.
Healio: Why did you choose this middle school as the site for the mural?
Soto: It faces a main street that a lot of people go through. It’s on the same road as The Roasterie, a coffee company on the west side of Kansas City. It is an area with a lot of traffic. Also, Guadalupe Centers Middle School has a lot of resources and different events that people attend. They have all kinds of fiestas throughout the year. Even people sitting in traffic waiting for their kid at the middle school might look over at the mural, see the QR code and become curious. They might think, “What is that about?” and scan the code, and maybe they have a loved one or an acquaintance who might benefit from that information. Most people know someone who is living with cancer or who has a family member or friend living with cancer. With this QR code, they can send that person the information and just that quickly, that person has become aware of a clinical trial that could help them.
Healio: As the artist, what do you hope people will take away from this mural?
Soto: Even though I am a portrait artist, the depictions in this mural don’t look identical to the people. I’d like to think I captured something else that represents who they are more powerfully than just the exact look of their faces. I hope people can see that and that it translates. It’s not just about the lettering and the logos and everything else — it’s the people and their personalities, and seeing the story in their eyes.
Healio: Do you think these types of murals would benefit other underserved communities throughout the country?
Soto: Absolutely — especially the QR code. Since COVID, we’re all programmed to scan everything through a QR code. It’s become a great way to get information quickly. The QR code is a way to get access to a whole world of clinical trials that these individuals otherwise might never have known about. This could really save lives.
For more information:
Vania Soto can be reached at vania@vaniasoto.com; Instagram @artista_vaniasoto.
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