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An embroidery on a pale natural linen. There is a bone white diagram of a vocal apparatus, trachea, and bronchi/lungs. In between the branches of the bronchioles are small words embroidered in cursive in thin burgundy thread. They read: she breathed. Inhaled. exhaled. she knew. that breathing. was beauty. was the way. inside. to outside. when her breath. tightened. she found. ways. to soften. be still. to allow that. in. of the out. breath. to be. the. way through. she found the throughline. somehow. it. also found her. still. and breathing. deeply. each day was. new. each breath. a. different. path. always. through her. and. throughout her. such a. simple. thing, breath. such a journey. through. trees. and. branches. how the body knows. to still. itself. if we learn how. to. listen deeply.
Image description: An embroidery on a pale natural linen. There is a bone white diagram of a vocal apparatus, trachea, and bronchi/lungs. In between the branches of the bronchioles are small words embroidered in cursive in thin burgundy thread. They read:

she breathed. Inhaled. exhaled. she knew. that breathing. was beauty. was the way. inside. to outside. when her breath. tightened. she found. ways. to soften. be still. to allow that. in. of the out. breath. to be. the. way through. she found the throughline. somehow. it. also found her. still. and breathing. deeply. each day was. new. each breath. a. different. path. always. through her. and. throughout her. such a. simple. thing, breath. such a journey. through. trees. and. branches. how the body knows. to still. itself. if we learn how. to. listen deeply.

she breathed (2018)

by Lia Pas

In this stunning embroidery, Lia Pas draws from her personal experiences to explore how fundamental breath is to both art and life. “Before I got sick, voice was my main instrument – I was writing and performing primarily vocal works,” Lia shares. All that changed after she developed post-viral ME/CFS. “I lost my ability to sing (even a verse of happy birthday would trigger PEM*), and in the first few months after onset I had days where I could hardly speak. Almost 10 years later, I am just now slowly experimenting with the gentlest of vocal warmups.

“I have experienced air hunger, and the feeling of being deoxygenated but with no measur­able difference in blood oxygenation was a very disconcerting feeling. I have used my knowledge as a former voice coach and yoga teacher to help find ease in my breathing, and ‘she breathed’ contains a lot of that experience.”

*PEM: post-exertional malaise = a flareup of symptoms triggered by even trivial levels of physical or cognitive exertion (sometimes occurring on a delay). A hallmark symptom of ME/CFS.

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, 2024, 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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