Benefit + Awareness Month

Artist Showcase

At Opera Mariposa, we believe in the power of art to tell stories. In these pieces, multidisciplinary artists with ME and Fibromyalgia have done just that – fusing art and advocacy to illuminate life with “invisible” illnesses, and the hidden challenges faced by the chronic illness community.

Many of these artists have worked across disciplines – as composers, stage managers, makeup artists and more. Here, we showcase their digital, collage, and fibre arts, as well as their written words, to reveal another facet of how our community uses art to raise our voices.

Access: Artwork includes alt text, image descriptions, and definitions of medical jargon. Our gallery will remain online, so please enjoy it at your own pace. Content warnings: references to medical symptoms, ableism, and pandemic isolation.

Click on each art piece to see a full-sized version and more info!

Discover more images, including a behind-the-scenes look at the making of some of the artwork, on Opera Mariposa’s Instagram!

Gallery

Christina Baltais (Words As Medicine) – collage

Toronto/Tkaranto artist Christina Baltais (she/her) has lived with ME/CFS since she was 20 years old. Although her illness was originally ‘mild’, it progressed until she was forced to leave school and became mostly housebound. Now when her health permits it, Christina draws on her personal experiences to create collages, photography, and makeup art aimed at raising awareness for this life-altering illness, and she advocates for her community and for ME healthcare equality.

“When we talk about healing, it is often only referred to in a physical sense — as a precursor to cure. There is another type of healing. It is the healing that takes place when your struggling is validated, seen and heard… I want to normalize and create discussion around the difficult and challenging struggles we face, both within our bodies, and with the outside world because of them.”
CHRISTINA BALTAIS

Surreal collage of the backs of two people sitting in green and yellow lawn chairs. They are seated on the moons surface, looking at planet Earth that is miles and miles away.

Outsiders

Surreal collage of white person holding up their phone with both hands while lying down (photo taken from their perspective). The screen of the phone and underlying blanket are superimposed with a forest scene. It is green and lush with a small river running through it. A doe and black bear can be seen walking on the phone screen, and other animals including a turtle, buck, hare, chipmunk, owl and fox are present outside the phone. This gathering of animals symbolizes accessing community through a virtual space.

Door to the Outside World

Surreal collage of a large shell that has been opened. Inside its base is a light blue bed with a white woman who has black hair and red lips. She is sitting up and stretching out her arms as if she has just awoken from a deep slumber. The roof of the shell is a starry night sky with a crescent moon.

Living in a Shell

Created on the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples.

Lia Pas – fibre arts

Saskatoon-based multidisciplinary artist Lia Pas (she/her) developed ME/CFS after contracting a virus in 2015. Previously active as a composer/librettist, dancer, vocalist and instrumentalist, she found herself struggling to read, speak, or even listen to music. To keep creating, she turned to embroidery – and eight years later is renowned for her hand-embroidered creations, which take months to create and often illustrate the “invisible” neurological symptoms of ME/CFS.

“It is well known that most autoimmune diseases affect women more often than men, and fibre arts… have long been considered “women’s work” and not always taken seriously as art in the West. I am a woman illustrating my disease, my invisible symptoms, in a medium that has been kept alive by women… If I must create slowly, then let the slowness be a meditation, let the quiet be a source of introspection, let the threads of my symptoms express themselves in thread on linen.”
LIA PAS

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)

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)

An embroidery on bone white linen. There are many coral-like neurons in the vague shape of a brain embroidered in shades of blue. The bottom section is navy blue and transitions to a lighter blue at the top. The text at the bottom reads: she was tributaries, all electric.

she was tributaries (2016)

Created on Treaty 6 territory – the traditional lands of the Cree, Saulteaux, Dene, Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota nations, and homeland of the Métis.

Toni Scott – digital illustration

Vancouver-based Toni Scott (he/him) is a non-binary illustrator who has lived with both ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia since 2019. Previously known as the artist for the Chargimals, a series of characters representing physical and mental health conditions, he is now a freelance illustrator working with clients worldwide.

“When I was diagnosed with ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia, the chronic illness and disability community welcomed me with open arms and helped me in more ways than I can count. I want to use my art to advocate for and give back to the community to the best of my ability.”
TONI SCOTT

Three stylized cartoon characters against a pink background. On the left, Gya (Fibromyalgia) is blobby and purple with one eye and an arm in a cast. On the right, Mya (ME/CFS) is square and blue with a blue tuft of hair, and uses a wheelchair. In the centre, Connor (Long Covid) has a grey body with white lung-like chest markings, a long tail, and a red cat-like head wearing a gold crown (or corona). Connor flexes their arms as they introduce themself, emitting a green glow.

A New Friend

Cartoon-style illustration of a spherical white bird with round eyes and blushing pink cheeks, nestled in purple and blue awareness ribbons that flow around him to make the shape of a stylized heart.

Borb the Spokesbird

Illustration of a white girl with lavender eyes and Heidi braids, wearing a blue dress covered in white spiral patterns. The girl's skirt flows around her and her arms are outstretched, as purple, white and blue ribbons swirl around her like butterfly wings. Behind her, a lilac and sky blue background is covered in a tracery of translucent white spirals and floral patterns.

Magical

Created on the unceded, occupied lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.

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Discover our other digital offerings for May Awareness Month

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