SACRED|PROFANE is an ongoing research project consisting of a series of three-dimensional, mixed-media, body-themed box-assemblages, as well as a number of paintings.

Through these works, Lawrence Buttigieg renegotiates and subverts the traditional conventions in the studio, in particular the observant position of the male artist and the acquiescence of the female model. As a result, a mutually beneficial collaboration between the two is reached.

In the process of fragmentising and fetishising the female body, the box-assemblages also bring together the sacred and the profane on the hypothesis that woman and the deity share a common realm, that of the Other.

The viewers are invited to explore, both visually and tactually, the intimate materiality of each artefact and are therefore prompted to establish a complicitous relationship with their protagonists. Most of the works are characterised by a state of ‘unfinishedness’. Through time, the box-assemblage, rather than seeking finality, attunes itself to that of its protagonists. It becomes a direct reflection of their subjectivity, embraces their fluid nature, and is readily disposed to change over time.

The SACRED|PROFANE exhibition will be introduced by Marsha Meskimmon (Loughborough University) with a talk entitled ‘Corporeal Entanglement Beyond the Binary’. The talk will be followed by a Q&A session with Buttigieg, moderated by Gloria Lauri-Lucente (University of Malta).

The presentation will take place today at St James Cavalier between 7pm and-9pm. Admission is free. For more information, visit http://www.kreattivita.org/en/event/sacred-l-profane .