A host of colourful characters drawn from childhood memories inhabit Paul Caruana’s latest collection of works.

Depicting real-life and fictional figures, the watercolour paintings on display at Palazzo de Piro in Mdina are meant to elicit a smile and a sense of nostalgia among visitors.

“Seeing Voices is an attempt to recapture particular characters and memorable instances from my childhood, recollections which I can vividly remember but cannot hear anymore,” Mr Caruana said.

“I would like whoever sees this collection to enjoy and hopefully travel back in time to those days, even if for just a few minutes. The memories will only last as long as my generation is still around,” the artist, who is in his 50s, continued.

Among the main protagonists of the exhibition is Toni ‘l-Gudaj’, who was a good friend of the artist and his father.

“In his mid-80s, he would go diving for sea dates (tamal). He wouldn’t have any special equipment, just goggles and somerope,” Mr Caruana, a former Times of Malta employee, recalled.

Toni

“He would fill the boat to the brim with rocks [where the dates would be found] from the seabed and bring them ashore to be broken up with a stone chisel and a hammer. ‘They fetch a pretty penny,’ he would say.”

An attempt to recapture particular characters

Another painting introduces Ċikku, who ran a hairdressing salon in Mr Caruana’s home town, Valletta. He, however, admits he didn’t particularly like to visit him.

“Ċikku’s scissors knew no mercy and when he shaved your neck, it seemed he actually enjoyed scraping it. It hurt a lot,” he said, adding that he would walk into the salon looking like Paul McCartney and come out as clean shaven as a Buddhist monk.

Ċikku

But the painting Mr Caruana cherishes the most is the one titled Bezzina’s Class, as it brings back happy memories of his school days at the Baviera (Auberge de Baviere).

“When sent to Mr Bezzina’s class, it meant circus time! The poor fellow just wasn’t cut out to be a teacher,” he said with a laugh.

Mr Caruana feels eternally grateful to these people “who made life what it was back then, good and bad”. He is also thankful and proud to have been born and raised in the lower part of Valletta.

“Life back then was one adventure after the other. One minute we’re cowboys and Indians, the next you would see us playing as crusaders in Fort St Elmo’s ditch,” he reminisced.

One of the artworks captures a favourite pastime of his and his friends in the good old summer days.

“When not swimming in the area known as Il-Fossa, we would build scooters and carts and race with them down the street. There were no cars to look out for. The only danger was crashing and getting your knees and elbows bruised… however, we would show these off to girls as if they were trophies,” he quipped.

“Having dogs chase us all the way down to the end of the street was hilarious as well.”

The exhibition also features two instantly recognisable folklore characters: Ġaħan and Ċensu ż-Żatat, whose adventures filled the textbooks of yesteryear.

“Sometimes when I’d be in church with my mum, lost between her whispered prayers and the paintings on the ceilings, I would look at the church’s front door and imagine Ġaħan walking in, carrying his mum’s front door. Wouldn’t that be hilarious?,” Mr Caruana mused.

“Ċensu ż-Żatat is another favourite of mine. His ‘I too can do that’ attitude was and still is a bit dangerous. You learn to think twice as you grow up.”

Seeing Voices runs at Palazzo de Piro in Mdina until October 31.

Ċensu

Ġahan

Bezzina’s Class