This month Victoria’s citadel is host to A Maltese Veneer, an exhibition of paintings by Gozo’s Catherine Mia Dando who is “half-Maltese” – both an insider and outsider. Her idiosyncratic art fuses rustic charm and detail, strong clean lines and contrasts inspired by graphic design, and the geometric curves and arabesque patterns of Maltese tiles.

While primarily celebrating Malta’s welcome and beauty with boho-chic intrigue, it also draws on the dualities the artist has found in her personal history and here on the islands, as she inhabits that in-between land of Maltese and other.

The exhibition’s primary focus is Maltese doors and includes a series in the fresh bright colours seen on village streets. Red, green, golden yellow and purple, they are embellished with traditional iron work and bougainvillea. Each is charmingly pretty, an everyday scene that is instantly recognisable to the Maltese and with which visitors to Malta fall in love.

The exhibition’s primary focus is Maltese doors.

“For me, they show how welcoming, generous and engaging this country is,” explains Dando.

She describes how she instantly loved the islands’ architecture, and is constantly inspired by her work as a furniture restorer and up-cycler, breathing new life into old doors, windows, shutters and eclectic pieces of furniture.

I’m drawn to the simplicity of the contrast between light and shade

“My family was always very appreciative of old things and antiques. Even when something’s old and broken, crumbling and out of fashion, there’s always beauty. It’s just how you view it,” she explains.

“Woodworking has always been in the family,” Dando continues. “My grandfather, Anthony Spiteri, was a master carpenter in the Grand Harbour during World War II, and my mother had a company designing and creating wooden trellises for the gardens in South Africa.”

Interestingly, the patterning in the backgrounds of Dando’s paintings are reminiscent of the shapes trellises form against the light and the shadows they cast.

The paintings include a series in the fresh bright colours seen on village streets.

The artist moved to Malta 11 years ago and it’s a heartwarming story. “I was born and grew up in South Africa. When I first introduced my future husband to my Maltese grandparents there, it was so funny,” she grins.

“My nanna took one look at him, turned to my grandfather and said, he looks Maltese! Later, he secretly promised my grandfather that one day he’d bring me back to Malta. Strangely, although I had never been before, when we moved here, I had this incredible sense of coming home.

“It was amazing! I suddenly recognised myself in other people,” she laughs. “Suddenly my colouring was commonplace, and I was not the shortest person in the room! The things I’d been teased for as a child were normal here. Also, I saw other nannas sweeping the pavement in a house dress and sandals, their stockings to the knees, when I’d thought only my Mediterranean grandmother did that. And I suddenly understood why my grandfather was crazy about fireworks. We had family nuances that were cultural oddities in South Africa, but here, suddenly, they made sense. It was strange but it was comforting as well.

“In my work, I’m drawn to the simplicity of the contrast between light and shade,” she continues.

“I love the dichotomy and living here I’ve found the island to be surprisingly polarised in many ways, from the dual influences of land and sea to its politics. Malta’s beautiful but it’s pretty barren. It has been very patriarchal and yet has female goddesses dating back to Neolithic times.

The artist describes how she instantly loved the islands’ architecture.

“Locals and foreigners living here have very different experiences, as do visitors and residents. There’s such ancient beauty yet Malta has a dark underbelly: while there’s such compassion and love, there’s shocking corruption and ongoing damage to old buildings too.”

It is these darker aspects of Maltese life that inspired the larger canvases in the show. Catherine has painted three doorways in striking black and white, a touch of gothic with slashes of gold glimmering across black brickwork.

“We all have light and dark in our lives and it’s grounding to acknowledge both halves. These serve as a reminder that when things are dark, there’s always a route out. And of course, you can’t appreciate the light if you don’t have the dark!” she smiles.

There’s such ancient beauty yet Malta has a dark underbelly

In a similar vein, a series of Maltese dgħajsa, white on dark cobalt blue, rest on a sea of luscious gold leaf, an ode to Malta’s place in the Mediterranean.

“The sea’s stunning on the surface, endless blue and diamond ripples; yet the water below is deep, dark and unfathomable. It is powerful and dangerous with both the promise of treasure and the threat of storms. Some people’s experience of the Med is very different from that of day-trippers or holiday-makers.”

And it’s perhaps a wry twist that Dando’s work hangs in the old stone hall of the citadel, once designed to keep invaders out and now an iconic spot for visitors from all around the world.

A Maltese Veneer runs untilFebruary 28.