Solena Aguilar (they/them) is a textile artist and author from San Francisco, CA currently foraging for fabric in Brooklyn, NY. Drawing inspiration from their Nicaraguan and Queer background, Solena works to build community with storytelling and pattern making. They received their BFA in Art and Design from California Polytechnic State University. Solena works to create art that is accessible in terms of language, location, and materials. They are the creator and illustrator of the bilingual children’s book, “What Do You Need?/¿Qué Necesitas?”, a story about mutual aid and equity through the lens of a community garden. In 2025, they produced and curated “LAYERS: All Trans Art Show” at Brooklyn Art Cave that featured 21 Trans artists whose work explored the complexities of the Trans identity. Solena’s first mural was created for an elementary school in Harlem entitled “Our Place” in collaboration with 30 elementary, middle, and high school students. Since then, Solena has gone on to create vibrant murals in New Jersey and Brooklyn. Solena’s current pattern-making practices explore all the ways recognizable, everyday materials can be transformed beyond their original purpose. By exploring each material's limitations and possibilities, Solena’s work invites viewers to see them in a new perspective. When we acknowledge the beauty and complexity in the objects around us, we begin to care for them differently and understand that they, too, carry stories.