Cancer can knock the wind out of you.
For 56-year-old artist Leila “Ling” Marapao Brian, first, there was the shock of finding out that she had been diagnosed with stage 2B breast cancer in 2008. What followed was the diagnosis of her eldest brother with lung cancer that took him back to his maker in 2014 (her father passed away because of the same cancer), and that of another brother with prostate cancer that insisted on being so problematic that he needed surgery to purge the unwelcome cells from his body, also in the same year.
With the grace of heaven, her brother’s surgery was a success, while this year marks Leila’s ninth year of bearing the title of cancer survivor.
(Leila’s artwork entitled Breathe)
Cancer can knock the wind out of someone, but not Leila; her confrontation with the big C has sharpened her focus on life, strengthened her resolve to be tougher than nails and helped her find her center, and breathe in, and breathe out, following an uninterrupted pattern of calmness.
This April, Leila encapsulates her story of survival and triumph in her very first exhibit entitled Breathe. The one-woman show includes 47 paintings, as Leila was 47-years-old when she was diagnosed with cancer, as well as her other works of art like hand painted bags and purses.
“Breathe in! Relax, free your mind from worry, from anger, from stress. Breathe out! Breathe! Because we have the capacity to rise above our pain and find ways to cope with the harsh realities of life,” reads her caption of the artwork bearing the exhibit’s name. It’s the message she wishes to convey to those her story resonates with.
Numbered from 1 to 47, the paintings are arranged to take you on a journey, revealing to visitors what battling with and overcoming cancer had revealed to Leila.
Gradually, visitors will see that her journey that began with falling through a deep divide with no clear end in sight have taught her to appreciate the good, the better and the best things she life has given her, rather than dwell on what then felt like what could and would never be.
It is not the pain of cancer that powers her paintbrush and fills her canvas from corner to corner. It’s the rediscovered joy of living and knowing that she can and has always been able to conquer all — and so can anyone.
With its recognizable cancer ribbons, the painting that most evidently alludes to her experience is called Hold Your Breath.
Cool to the eyes and dotted with colorful little fishes, she explains the painting’s name that has been changed a couple of times before. “…there are times in your life when you have to hold your breath, exhale, then grin and bear it,” Leila writes.
After almost a decade of being cancer-free, the burden no longer has to be born and her grin will never fade from her face.
Leila can breathe again, and life is good.
Selected paintings from Breathe are up for sale. Proceeds will be used as seed money for the book Leila intends to publish in time for breast cancer awareness month in October, and will benefit indigent breast cancer patients in the hospital she was treated in for her own illness.
Breathe is located in the GSIS Museo Ng Sining is located at the 2/F of the GSIS Bldg., Financial Center, Pasay City with telephone numbers (02) 859 0395 and (02) 479 3588. The museum is open on Tuesday to Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The exhibit will run until Saturday, April 29.
(Sunrise in Papa Titing’s Oyster)
(To roam in Rome: The Colosseum)
(Ko Lai Do: Woman on a boat)
(Hold your Breath)
(Selfie)
