Artist showcase

In the centre of some bone white linen, there is a spine embroidered in a thick satin stitch. Emanating from the spine are thick burgundy lines in an undulant oval shape. This oval is bisected across the middle. In the top half, there is a section outlined in burgundy filled with coiling blue lines and a similar section in the bottom half. The rest of the undulant oval is filled with fine coiling burgundy lines. The spine is very straight, the rest of the embroidery is very coiled and busy. Lia’s initials are stitched in fine thread the same colour as the cloth at the bottom right.
Image description: In the centre of some bone white linen, there is a spine embroidered in a thick satin stitch. Emanating from the spine are thick burgundy lines in an undulant oval shape. This oval is bisected across the middle. In the top half, there is a section outlined in burgundy filled with coiling blue lines and a similar section in the bottom half. The rest of the undulant oval is filled with fine coiling burgundy lines. The spine is very straight, the rest of the embroidery is very coiled and busy. Lia’s initials are stitched in fine thread the same colour as the cloth at the bottom right.

sensorium (2016)

by Lia Pas

This embroidery, which is part of the SK Arts Board’s permanent collection, depicts “sensory overload… [and] the complexity & insistence of these neurological symptoms.”

Many ME patients have a disabling hypersensitivity to light, sound, touch, taste, temperature and/or other sensory input. Lia explains, “My main hypersensitivity is hyperacusis, a sensitivity to sound and vibration.” It’s a particularly cruel symptom for a someone who was active as a composer/librettist and performer before developing post-viral ME.

Nowadays, the wrong trigger sounds – from an idling vehicle to an air conditioner – can cause Lia pain not just in her ears, but throughout her whole body. She says, “I can end up with myalgia*, tension headaches, and migraines after exposure and it can take days to recover depending on the volume, timbre, and length of the trigger sound.

“It’s hard to explain to someone just how disabling sound sensitivity can be.”

*myalgia: muscle pain

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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