Homage paid to Maltese immigrants in Tunisia

The Maltese Embassy in Tunisia has organised a month-long exhibition of Maltese artists and artifacts, Malta Hanina, in Tunis to promote Maltese culture and identity.

The event, through a series of seminars, also seeks to revive the history of Maltese immigrants there and to document their daily life at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Housed at the Musée de la Ville de Tunis - Palais Kheireddine, the project is being financed and coordindated by the Tourism and Culture Ministry and the Malta Tourism Authority, and remains open until February 10. The words Malta hanina were one of the first things Maltese Ambassador to Tunisia Tanya Vella heard in the Medina in Tunis when the shopkeepers found out she was Maltese. In fact, most Maltese visiting Tunis are familiar with the actual expression Malta hanina, hobz bis-sardina.

"It happened on several occasions and was said with a smile. I also discovered it in all circles, regardless of the level of society, in Tunis. It obviously evoked pleasant memories for Tunisians about Maltese," Ms Vella told The Times.

"So I decided it was important to start documenting the history of Maltese in Tunis because most Maltese at home are not aware of this rich past and very few Maltese still live in Tunisia today. I wanted to revive it."

Ms Vella explained that the expression Malta hanina originated when Maltese were forced to emigrate in the middle of the 19th century to find work. Bab El Khadra and the rue des Maltais in Tunis are still known as the place where Maltese, Arabs, Jews and Italians lived together in peace and built a new life.

The exhibition includes the works of five contemporary Maltese artists, using different media: abstract artist Alan Chircop, sculptor Ivan Fenech, the figurative works of Celia Borg Cardona, photographer Patrick Fenech and installation artist Pierre Portelli; while the artisan section includes Bristow Potteries, Mdina Glass, Maltese silver, the Maltese traditional costume, lace and festa decorations.

As part of the cultural initiative, a series of seminars is being organised in conjunction with the exhibition intended "to pay homage to those Maltese who, despite their difficulties, left their beloved country of origin to conquer new lands, without ever losing their pride, their identity, their origins and their language".

Among the guests are music group Nafra, Fine Arts Museum director Dennis Vella, author Claude Rizzo, Henry Frendo and Lawrence Attard from the University of Malta, while a variety of testimonies will be given by Maltese people from Tunisia.

The activity is also aimed at implementing one of the main strategic objectives of Malta's foreign policy, launched by Foreign Minister Michael Frendo in 2006 to redefine the Maltese nation to comprise all Maltese migrants in their country of settlement, and the creation of new synergies between their motherland and these outreach communities.

The embassy also wanted to start off the year with an exhibition to inform Tunisia about the Malta of today and yesterday in the hope that it would encourage visitors to discover the Maltese identity, its contemporary artists, its history, traditions and folklore, said Ms Vella.