One of the principal shows by a local artist has recently opened in our capital city, Valletta. This exhibition is by an artist whose works are each masterfully executed in a variety of media – painting, sculpture, video, drawing and more – all of which are showcased in this exhibition.

I am referring to Austin Camilleri’s ongoing exhibition at Spazju Kreattiv titled LE.IVA | Anger is a lazy form of grief. This is an artist who has time and time again proven to be cerebral but also sensitised to what is going on in the world. An artist whose art has reached such a high level that his name is of international standing. It is therefore understandable that this exhibition happens to be his first solo exhibition in Malta in over a decade.

The multifaceted aspect of the artist is amply visible in this extremely powerful exhibition that presents artworks that have been executed in the last decade. This was possible because of Camilleri’s concerns and tribulations, which have been quite a constant in his oeuvre.

Leap

He is also making a visual commentary on public art in Malta, on sculpture and architecture. The politics of art and the power of images is very much a point of discussion. Upon entering the exhibition, the first artwork one encounters is a giant bronze sculpture of a local athlete, Neil Agius, titled Leap. Such large-scale sculptures have in the history of art been used to glorify the gods or an important figure who wanted to be remembered for posterity.

But in this case, vanity and idealism were not the main aim in this great contemporary monument (which is far more deserving of this title than many others that dot the Maltese islands). Naturalism and reality are the main components of concern here.

This sculpture is of the swimmer who swam across the Mediterranean, intentionally and under as controlled circumstances as his team could possibly manage, served as an inspiration to many. It is here used as an ode to the many lives lost in the Mediterranean, that has for decades become a cemetery for those seeking a better life, desperately escaping their homes.

The sculpture is juxtaposed on to Camilleri’s Ghosttrip Series. This series is composed of multimedia artworks that feature actual coordinates in the embossments on paper that mark the location of where actual shipwrecks of migrant boats took place in the Mediterranean.

From the Ghosttrip Series

This is the sea which has been well known throughout the history of civilisation; the Middle Sea, the Great Sea, what was to the Roman Empire the ‘mare nostrum’. It is today great for many reasons, iniquitous even.

If this does not make one think about the transience of life, like the Baroque memento mori (Latin for ‘remember you must die’) in painting, then what does? This exhibition is even more pertinent in today’s world when a new war is ravaging a country and its people. Other art works, such as the Passport Series, similarly emphasise this point.

The exhibition is one that will certainly be remembered as one of the more accomplished contemporary art shows

Another local public sculpture and monument is the subject of a large artwork: Victoria. This exhibit consists of a large photograph of Republic Square which has as its main focus a seated Queen Victoria, which, however, has been purposely blacked out. There are so many layers to explore in this exhibition in general, and in each artwork too.

LEIVA

A more public artwork has been put on display in the niche at the Castellania Palace, Valletta, titled Le.Iva. The second room of the exhibition is dedicated to the process of creating this artwork, among other works that are also exhibiting Camilleri’s older artworks, where busts are intentionally faceless.

LEIVA is one of the more recently executed artworks. It is a white sculpture cast in aluminium, portraying a 12-year-old girl on the threshold of womanhood, arms crossed over her chest. Is she being defensive? Is she isolated?

It is an obvious commentary on the female in today’s world, but, again, there are so many more layers to this one artwork. It stands there, very much in the public eye, for everyone who has felt judged and persecuted, just like those who were found guilty of a crime and having been subsequently exposed and judged in that same Valletta niche.

Bandiera Bianca

The third room is dedicated to an installation composed of two videos and an objet trouvé, a propeller taken from a sunken migrant boat, that has been gilded, an object that has been thus elevated from the mundane and utilitarian to become a modern-day icon. The videos juxtaposed with it, titled Bandiera Bianca, are contradictory and complementary, presenting us with scenes of calm beaches but also men struggling for survival inside a boat.

In the final room, Anger is a Lazy Form of Grief 1 and 2 re-enacts the burning of a wooden model of Valletta’s Teatru Rjal – which also forms part of this installation – in the compelling video that was filmed symbolically between the columns of the entrance to the remains of the theatre.

The exhibition is one that will certainly be remembered as one of the more accomplished contemporary art shows. It is not surprising that it is generating a lot of interest as well as sparking debate and the need for art enthusiasts to regularly discuss the local and international contemporary art scene.

Camilleri has produced a magnificent show.

LE.IVA or Anger is a Lazy Form of Grief, is a Spazju Kreattiv initiative which has been curated by Rosa Martinez, with Irene Biolchini as assistant curator, and supported by Visit Malta, Arkafort, Express Trailers, iLAB Studios, Magro Brothers, ReCoop, and Pictures & Frames. The exhibition is open until April 10.

Some of the sculptures in the second room.