Supporting artists and collectives by exhibiting at The Mill has been a core principle of the Gabriel Caruana Foundation but also of Gabriel and Mary Rose Caruana, the founders of The Mill – Art, Culture and Crafts Centre. Raffaella Zammit, executive director of the foundation, highlights the ethos of the foundation and discusses the forthcoming SPRING v1.1 exhibition with The Sunday Times of Malta.

A selection of artworks and ephemera by the emerging artists Noura Abdelhafidh, Stephania Micallef and Stefan Spiteri are set to be exhibited at The Mill – Art, Culture and Crafts Centre as part of SPRING, the centre’s programme aimed at supporting early-career artists and collectives.

The exhibition SPRING v1.1 aims to provide physical space for debuting artists to exhibit their work and engage in critical discussions on their art and creative output. Artists in the programme are guided throughout the curatorial process and instructed on the technicalities of project development, marketing and selling their artworks.

“SPRING started off very informally,” Gabriel Caruana Foundation executive director Raffaella Zammit said. “Like many other projects, it started off as an experiment to test and learn. We started with Maxine Attard, followed by Enrique Tabone and, last year, we had Charlene Galea.

“Providing a space for a solo exhibition by an early-career artist seemed to be a useful way for the Gabriel Caruana Foundation to continue the legacy of Gabriel Caruana himself and also be relevant for emerging artists.”

The foundation has provided emerging artists with solo exhibitions since 2017. Zammit highlighted that emerging artists are supported in varied ways but this generally goes beyond simply setting up an artistic showcase. 

Being in contact with upcoming artists requires getting to understand what kind of support they may need

“This support has organically grown into SPRING, a programme that conceptually ties in with the notion of creating a platform for the promotion of work by emerging artists and collectives. This enables them to kickstart or further expose their work and artistic career, giving them the space to investigate and intervene,” Zammit continued.

Cardboard (2020) by Stefan Spiteri

She maintained that being in contact with upcoming artists requires getting to understand what kind of support they may need.

“We also want to be true to our mission as a foundation – that of promoting and supporting modern and contemporary artists. We started thinking of different ways of providing support. Providing a space at The Mill on a monthly basis was the starting point of SPRING.

“However, it is not only a wall space that we provide. We also ensure that there is plenty of critical discussion, curatorial direction and exposure to the setting-up of an exhibition.” 

The first open call was launched last November, to which the centre received an overwhelming response. They have now opened the second call which closes on February 21.

Noura Abdelhafidh, born in Tunisia in 1991, moved to Malta to work as a junior architect and has always been interested in the role of design, art and architecture in articulating social changes and guaranteeing human rights.

Stephania Micallef, born in 1980, has practised various media such as sculpture, drawing, composition, wood printing, etching and other forms of art. She currently draws life human figures with a group of artists as part of an ongoing project called BILD (Bred in Life Drawing) and at the Malta School of Art.

Stefan Spiteri, born in 1998, has as his main focus two-dimensional work, primarily drawing, painting and collage. His creative process revolves around the theme of space in which identity, memory and time are explored. He currently works as a full-time painter in his studio in Malta.

“They will be exhibiting in SPRING v1.1 which launches on January 21 and will be available for viewing until February 8.  Following which we have more artists which have been selected through the first SPRING call. These other artists will be exhibiting at The Mill between February and April.”

The details of the first exhibition, SPRING v1.1 can be accessed by logging on to www.gabrielcaruanafoundation.org/spring/.