Artist Sabrina Debono decides to submerge herself in concrete as part of an exhibition about safeguarding the natural environment

Photo: Sabrina Debono

An artist has created a new installation about the uprooting of the natural environment and overdevelopment, which features the use of felled tree stumps that were cut down to make way for the controversial Central Link project.

Sabrina Debono, who had a front seat view of the destruction of the trees that came before the road-widening exercise, was moved to collect the stumps two years ago when the landscape she had grown accustomed to changed dramatically to make room for the new project.

A teacher for 15 years, Debono decided to change track and started reading for an MA in fine arts to pursue her passion for painting.

“I typically paint in oils and acrylics and I love the Maltese landscape. The environment has always played an important role in my artistic development,” she said.

“I live in Misraħ Kola, Attard and when they started uprooting the trees along the Central Link project I thought it would make sense to collect them and that it could contribute to art that feels effective.

“I had grown up with these trees and,  suddenly, they weren’t there anymore,” Debono added.

“I understand that they have replaced and replanted a lot of the trees which were there but a sapling needs time and effort to be able to contribute the good to the environment that an adult tree does.”

For her final year project, Debono decided to incorporate the trees into a solo exhibition, called Breathless, which is currently on display at the APS Summer Festival being held at the University of Malta Campus, in Msida.

The work features massive tree stumps that had to be lifted into place using cranes as well as a sculpture featuring an open mouth embedded in a slab of concrete desperately gasping for air.

The piece is accompanied by a video in which Debono submerged herself in a vat of concrete and takes large, deep breaths as she struggles to take in air.

Spliced between the performance are clips of workmen cutting down the trees along the Central Link project, which Debono captured herself while it was happening.

Two other pieces feature a tree being restrained by concrete-soaked ropes and another set up to show a stump being forcibly removed by chains.

“I spent a lot of time teaching children about different life cycles and I wanted to show how certain things are ruining our ecosystem,” Debono said.

“It might be a bit aggressive but it’s the reality of what is happening around us. I want people to reflect and think about what we are allowing to happen in this country. We all know that overdevelopment is rife.

“Art cannot always be beautiful postcards of Malta. In our towns and villages, this is what is happening.”

Debono credited her experience within the Department of Art and Art History and the support of her tutor, Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci, for helping her bring the piece to life and supporting her in focusing her studies on public art.

“I’m going to continue painting but also creating public art,” she said.

“In Malta, we have a tendency to just put up monuments, it’s usually just a man holding something. But I want to create things that can teach and be contemporary and relevant.”

One of the pieces on exhibit includes a tree being restrained by concrete-soaked ropes. Photos courtesy of Sabrina Debono