Artist showcase

An outline of a naked woman is embroidered on linen in the same bone white colour as the linen. She stands legs together, her right hand covering her groin, her left hand, palm up, extended slightly to her side. She looks to the right. Her entire body except for her belly is covered in intricate markings representing different neurological sensations. Her face is a mask of green lines, feathery grey lines cover her shoulders and chest. There is a thick band of intricate burgundy stitching around her waist. Her forearms and hands are covered in thick blue undulant lines. Her right leg has bands of burgundy along the muscles, with small dots around them. Her inner left leg has a thick line of blue running up it, with thin branches spreading towards her outer leg.
Image description: An outline of a naked woman is embroidered on linen in the same bone white colour as the linen. She stands legs together, her right hand covering her groin, her left hand, palm up, extended slightly to her side. She looks to the right. Her entire body except for her belly is covered in intricate markings representing different neurological sensations. Her face is a mask of green lines, feathery grey lines cover her shoulders and chest. There is a thick band of intricate burgundy stitching around her waist. Her forearms and hands are covered in thick blue undulant lines. Her right leg has bands of burgundy along the muscles, with small dots around them. Her inner left leg has a thick line of blue running up it, with thin branches spreading towards her outer leg.

body map (2016)

by Lia Pas

This piece is the most intricate embroidery in Lia’s Symptomology Series, which she considers a sort of self-portrait and diary of her experiences with ME/CFS. She explains, “This symptomology embroidery was created by freehand stitching my invisible symptoms as I experienced them… it’s a visual representation of all the various pains and paresthesias* I felt over the course of a few months, almost a year after the onset of post-viral ME/CFS. At times my whole body felt aflame.”

*parasthesia: abnormal sensations that can manifest as burning, prickling, tingling or numbness – experienced briefly by many people as “pins and needles” (e.g. when your legs fall asleep), but much more chronically or severely for people with some forms of nerve damage or neurological disease.

Lia Pas (she/her) is a Saskatoon-based multidisciplinary artist who works in image, text, and sound exploring body and states of being. She was an active composer/performer and poet/librettist until 2015 when she became disabled with ME/CFS. Since then her work has focused on fibre arts and writing with some small forays back into music. Her symptomatology and anatomy embroideries have been featured in numerous online publications, are part of the SK Arts permanent collection, and can be seen at liapas.com or on her Twitter and Instagram.


Enjoy Lia’s work? Until June 1, 2025, you can enter to win art postcards and a book featuring Lia’s exquisite creations – all in support of the ME | FM Society of BC!

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