Visual artist Mary Rose Saliba is currently exhibiting her works at Stella Maris retreat house, run by the Missionary Society of St Paul, in Żebbuġ, Gozo.

From an early age, Saliba, of Żebbuġ (Gozo), showed great interest in art and design. She is currently doing a Masters Degree in Social Practice Arts and Critical Education at the University of Malta.

Saliba recently graduated BA Hons in Fine Arts at MCAST Institute for the Creative Arts. She has also achieved an extended diploma with distinction in health and social care.

The artist entrenches a philosophical, psychological, political and biological meaning through the very essence of her paintings.

Her work centres around the coexistence of dualities. She investigates uncertain divisions between opposing poles: humanity and the divine.

The psychological aspect of the protagonist plays a good part around the narrative element of the exhibition. The artist considers this as a symbol of human condition, within a cultural, traditional and spiritual aspect.

Saliba’s sacred work is developed through a series of oil paintings, which she painted at an earlier stage of her career. Her contemporary, monumental panel is manifested through mixed media work, by encapsulating raw material and making use of natural pigments.

Saliba’s hard brush strokes and energy leave the viewer submerged into an enigmatic, surreal world.

The exhibition is open today between 9am and noon and from 5.30 to 7.30pm and tomorrow from 4 to 7pm.