It took six months of life in “sunny Malta” for an Italian artist to choose to portray its “cancer” in a digital artwork intended to capture the island he lost his heart to.

The creation is complete with a Mafia-style gangster wielding a crane instead of a machine gun against a backdrop of… more cranes.

“The time when a gangster’s power was in his weapons is over – more or less,” says William Daloiso about the menacing machinery in the hands of the Scarface-inspired character.

He recalls counting 31 cranes during a jog in Spinola Bay – and these have made their way into the creation, looming over Valletta’s iconic skyline and hitting a raw nerve about the country’s cancerous construction industry.

Although it’s hard to sum up a country in one image, he says it has a message he wants to convey: “A condemnation of the brutal impact of the economic boom.”

Daloiso says it hurts when the power of the few ruins the beauty of an entire country. “As an Italian, I know something about that!”

Fundamentally, he loves the island he calls his second home, replete with contrasts: at once traditional and modern, sacred and corrupt. But despite his unforgettable experience and memories of skating, painting graffiti at the skate park and eating ftira, his final “tribute” does not paint a pretty picture.

Sign of the times: a critical, political collage, using water colours and newspaper cuttings that represents Malta through an artist’s eyes.

It hurts when the power of the few ruins the beauty of an entire country

Daloiso started his journey into art with oil paintings, but the millennial inside him soon ditched the form that required patience and time for technology – more in keeping with the fast-paced age he was born in.

Until being printed in a newspaper he feels is the voice of the nation, Criminal Cranes was still a virtual creation, with ambitions to become a poster, a book cover, or hang in a Maltese contemporary art gallery.

Brewing in his mind since he returned to Italy a year ago, it was brought to life during the coronavirus outbreak, which has allowed him to revive other dormant art projects.

Back in northern Italy, Daloiso is in “lockdown mood”, but he is not convinced COVID-19 should be fertile ground for art inspiration as hard times often are.

“Personally, I do not like the idea of the coronavirus being a core theme in my work. There is enough of it everywhere. On the contrary, I use art to escape.”

William Daloiso at the skate park in Msida. The red image behind him is his work.

The cranes are another story though… These and Malta’s buildings are a recurring theme.

Daloiso acknowledges that the image is critical, but he hopes it is not offensive. It is not intended to insult, but merely protests against the powerful getting rich to the detriment of others.

As to how it will go down, that depends on who you ask: “The construction industry will not take kindly to it, but others will appreciate it. I believe they are a bigger group and this artwork lends them a voice.”