Hosted at MUŻA, Topia, is a striking installation by London-based artist Barnaby Barford, commissioned by Heritage Malta to explore our heritage, culture and communities through the lens of our shops.

In the form of a rickety street, 1000 exquisite small bone china shops are piled high on a rustic rubble wall base of irregular stones and blocks, the fabric of this country.

Reminiscent of Malta’s high-rise conurbations, and dense, characterful and sometimes ramshackle neighbourhoods, each of these bespoke pieces is an exquisite miniature of a real shop somewhere on Malta or Gozo. Each resounds with history, life and hidden stories.

Collected together like this, with background chatter adding to the ambience, you can’t help but imagine the many footsteps in and out through these doorways.

In the form of a rickety street, 1000 exquisite small bone china shops are piled high on a rustic rubble wall base of irregular stones and blocks.

Because of the long history of many of these shops, the work evokes a certain nostalgia. However, this isn’t a project about the vanishing shops of Valletta: it’s a playful portrait of the country today and a celebration of independent shops from Tal-Ħwawar, the spice shop in Valletta, to Pisani Lights in Ħamrun, Empire Cycles in Qormi, and Bookworm in Victoria, places we pass or visit daily. 

“Shops are the ‘wallpaper’ of our streets and the heartbeat of the community,” says Barford. “They’re so much more than bricks and mortar. They’re the embodiment of blood, sweat and tears, the dreams and aspirations of people and families. They encapsulate amazing human stories of hope and resilience.”

“They’re also a microcosm of a culture, a multi-faceted reflection of society’s past and present. I am interested in what shops tell us not only about the people who run them, but about architecture and design, construction and planning, post-colonialism, demographic trends, and a population’s interests and way of life.”

“Having created a similar piece in the V&A Museum in London, I was keen to explore other places in a similar way. When I came to Malta, I was wowed by its beauty. The shop fronts looked as if they were echoes of a different era, and although some were badly decayed, many had an old grandeur and beautiful features. It struck me that here I could document all of Malta and Gozo!” smiles Barford.

Selection of shop fronts seen in the exhibition. Photo: Sylvain Deleu/Heritage Malta

“However, I’m very aware that I am a foreign artist, so I’ve tried to simply record what I have seen respectfully. Often it takes someone from the outside to notice details that local people take for granted, and I hope the installation serves as a mirror for the people who know the place so much better.”

Barford visited every town and village on Malta and Gozo by bike taking over 11,000 photos. 

“Cycling is the best way to get around here,” he grins. “I love the way it immerses you in a place – you see, hear and smell it!  I also loved the rubble walls that line the roads and snake their way between the fields. They’re integral to the landscape.”

Back in the studio, Barford tidied his photographs, stitching views together and removing the cars – it’s a ‘car-free’ installation which in a county with nearly half a million cars is quite a feat!

The final images were then transferred onto three sizes of model cast in bone china, the largest of which is 12cm x 11cm x 3.5 cm. On the sides, he included additional details from the localities, including niches, mosaics and graffiti. Each shop was then individually glazed and refired several times to make them durable. “They’re contemporary today, a moment in time, but they’ll become old-fashioned as the world changes,” he smiles.

In addition, the project expanded into an exploration of the importance of these shops to people and communities as, en route around the islands, Barford chatted to shopkeepers and regulars. 

“I was taking a picture of the shop Coreschi’s Stationery and toy shop in Birkirkara when the shopkeeper, Anthony Zammit, came out and we got chatting,” continues Barford.

Barnaby Barford signing his works.

“He told me it was the first toy shop on Malta outside of Valletta, and he described his childhood there, growing up in the shop. I also spoke to the Italian lady (Cristina) who set up Togħma, an artisan bakery nearby. Hers was a very different story, and she had a wonderfully positive outlook on the future.”

Alongside the installation, Topia also includes video interviews in which seven shopkeepers talk about what their shops mean to them, what’s changed over the years and how they foresee their shop’s future. How does it feel, for example, for a fourth or fifth generation shopkeeper when their children aren’t interested in taking it on? There’s a gamut of emotions: love, joy and pathos too. 

In a world where contemporary art can be rather esoteric, Topia is truly accessible to everyone. Visitors will love to spot the shops they know within the installation and everyone, whatever their hometown or background, will find something they recognise.

“It will perhaps also serve as catalyst for further conversation on community and raise questions about the future direction of Maltese life,” the artist concludes.

Topia runs until January 19. Visit heritagemalta.mt/whats-on/topia/ for more information.