As we celebrate International Women’s Day 2020, an all-female collective art exhibition opens this week at Wignacourt Museum. In Celebrating Women, ten emerging female artists come together to put up what is, for many of them, their first exhibition. Coming from a kaleidoscope of backgrounds and art experiences, they all share one thing: a passion for art and their craft.

Eos by Nadya Anne Mangion

The recycled textiles Claudia Clayman uses to create her delicate and vibrant landscapes reflect her childhood memories of being brought up in the family textile business.

Dorianne Cachia, an architect by profession works mostly with smalti glass to create vibrant mosaics. She sees her artwork as particularly close to architecture as it opens a dialogue between the artist and the world, based on an interplay of colour, texture, light, shadow and massing.

Nadya Anne Mangion, a ceramicist, describes the raku technique as the key to her creativity; transforming clay into artefacts often organic in form. Anna Calleja’s collection of paintings reference her family and her relationship with Malta. She uses a very limited palette; muted tones creating more subtle and cohesive colours.

Nadya Anne Mangion, a ceramicist, describes the raku technique as the key to her creativity

Lara Manara’s monochromatic charcoal drawings search for distinguishing features between overtly sexualised gazes and other forms of looking, raising questions on female subjectivity and representation. Martine Cauchi’s acrylics on canvas express an exploration of complex emotions; grief, trauma, mental disorders, hidden disabilities and various social issues.

Cliffs by Danielle Sant

Alison Werdmolder’s love of colour is evident in her work. Her paintings express what we can’t see or choose not to see, but also comment on what we have the ability to perceive, inviting viewers to look beyond the immediate.

Jo Dounis is inspired by the beauty of the colours that she sees all around her. In her pieces she manipulates different colours to create organic and flowing patterns, forming a backdrop for compositions either geometric or figurative in nature.

Danielle Sant’s doodles take on a life of their own and are transformed into intricate drawings full of imagination and fantasy. In her work, Rachel Fenech is inspired by Baroque architecture. For this series, she used black ink to create monochromatic spaces composed of repetitive patterns and lines.

Celebrating Women is coordinated by artists Alison Zammit Endrich and Debbie Bonello, with the intention of showcasing the unique talents of ten women. They are working in collaboration with Fidem Charity Foundation, donating 20 per cent of all sales to its cause.

The foundation is a non-profit organisation providing support, assistance and empowerment to vulnerable and disenfranchised people, focusing on children and women, through education, art and culture.

Celebrating Women is running at the Wignacourt Museum, College Street, Rabat from March 8 to April 8 every day from 9.30am to 5pm. Entrance is free.