A priceless archive of never-before-seen photographs of post-war Malta has been discovered and will soon be open for public viewing.

The archive, which features over 9,000 negatives of black and white photos and around 3,000 colour photos, is entirely the work of the late Guido Stilon, who began capturing images in his teens during the early 1940s up until the late 1960s.

Mr Stilon’s widow, Grace Cilia Vincenti, licensed the collection to the organisation Magna Żmien in an effort to have the pictures digitised and preserved. The pictures were largely unseen except by close friends and family, before Mr Stilon’s untimely death in 1974 at age 43.

Vjal Santu Wistin, Rabat

“We always knew there would be certain gems that we would find. We give equal importance to every story of course, but there are some which, in terms of collection, stand out more than others,” Magna Żmien creative director Andrew Alamango told Times of Malta.

Ms Cilia Vincenti approached Magna Żmien with the collection out of a desire to have salvage the photos.

“Had anything happened to her, it would disappear and no one would ever hear of or see any of these photographs. She told us that Guido called himself a hobbyist but had a huge love for photography, always studying light and composition,” Mr Alamango said.

A Mellieħa bus with Xemxija in the background

The quality of this guy’s photography was phenomenal

“His family have a strong memory of a very discreet and unassuming person who always had a camera. He wouldn’t say much but he was always taking pictures.

“We realised when the pictures came out and we started digitising them that the quality of this guy’s photography was phenomenal.”

Mr Stilon’s pictures paint a phenomenal picture of Malta in transition and the subject of the images range from quaint streetscapes and portraits of tradesman in sleepy coastal villages to the life in flux of industry coming to the islands and the construction of some of the country’s most iconic landmarks.

His eye as a photographer proves to be surprisingly modern and insightful, capturing a generation living through a period of political, industrial and social transition.

“I think it is now the gem of Magna Żmien,” Mr Alamango says.

“I think when this particular collection goes out, he will have a national relevance as one important post-war photographer.

“He looks at Malta at a particular time when it’s developing into a new world. We see Malta being constructed. He photographed places like City Gate, the law courts and the shipyard being built. He has photographed buildings hit by bombs.

Valletta’s old City Gate being built in 1964.

“But at the same time, folk life is already being looked at in a quaint way by a well-to-do person from Valletta. He was observing the changing Malta as it happened.”

A selection of Mr Stilon’s pictures are being exhibited for the first time at the Malta Postal Museum and will be open to the public from February 11 until March 7.

Guido Stilon in a ‘selfie’.

The images selected will include street photography, scenes of urban, industrial and agricultural labour, and outdoor portraiture of friends and family. Malta’s transition to Independence will feature strongly throughout this exhibition’s narrative, along with the decade-long process of accelerated social change and expectations that accompanied it.

Magna Żmien will also host digitisation sessions, inviting members of the public to bring their personal and family negatives, photographs and old audio-visual films to be digitised.

The project is taking place under the artistic direction of Andrew Alamango, with the digital preservation and archiving carried out by Andrew Pace. Meanwhile, the exhibition will be curated by artist and researcher Letta Shtohryn. The project is supported by Arts Council Malta – Malta Arts Fund, APS Bank, the Malta Postal Museum & Arts Hub and iLab Photo.

Times of Malta will be featuring several of the photographs in print and online in the coming weeks.

A misty Ta' Liese.

Unseen Malta: Former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff addresses supporters in the early 1960s in one of thousands of stunning never-seen-before images by photographer Guido Stilon. Anton Buttigieg is standing on left. 

An aerial view of the Granaries in Floriana, with St Publius Church in the background.

The Citadel steps in Gozo