This year marked the fourth consecutive edition of the Rotta Ta’ L-Arti Collective Exhibition, organized by the PN as part of the Independence feast celebrations, and I was proud to once again be part of it.
The exhibition has grown into something truly special. This year it brought together 150 artists and almost 300 pieces under one roof, offering visitors a rare chance to walk through decades of Maltese art in a single visit. Alongside works from established and up and coming artists, the exhibition also paid tribute to Maltese painters who have passed away over the years, a moving reminder of the artistic legacy that continues to shape our island. Dr Lawrence Gonzi officially opened the exhibition on Friday the 11th of September 2009.
As always, the PN’s vision behind this event stays the same: to create space for new talent while bridging the gap between generations, allowing today’s emerging artists to exhibit alongside the names that came before them. It is a celebration of continuity as much as it is of creativity.
For my part, I exhibited a mixed media sculpture entitled Iqum fuq saqajh, ghandu bzonn il Malti. Standing five feet tall and built entirely from recycled wood, paper, metal and cardboard, the piece carries a message I feel strongly about. It is time for us to stand up and take action against the abuse our environment continues to suffer. It is time to understand what politics truly means for our island. And it is time to care properly for our tourism industry, an sector so vital to Malta’s future. Through this sculpture, I wanted to give form to that urgency, using discarded materials to speak about what we risk losing if we do not act.
