An exhibition of images by photographer Richard Ellis capturing Malta 150 years ago, underscores the need for a museum of photography, according to the owner of the collection.

This should be considered “a priority and not a luxury”, said Ian Ellis, a descendent of the photographer, whose family put together the Richard Ellis Archive of around 45,000 images and was “farsighted enough” to preserve it under the difficult conditions of World War II.

The thousands of photos depict scenes now consigned to history such as a vastly different Spinola Bay and a Malta where Sliema and Valletta were the only built-up areas.

But images like these have no place to call home, and many are being lost as owners do not know what to do with them.

The entrance to Valletta in 1890. Photo: Richard Ellis, digitised by Charles Paul Azzopardi

Digitised in archival-grade quality for the first time in their history, the huge-format prints on display at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta until October 23 allow the public to experience Malta and Gozo as they were 150 years ago – and the contrasts are stark.

“Looking back at our past should be a guide for our future. If looking back makes a lot of us realise what a mess we have made, and are still making, then let it be a big incentive to change our direction,” said Ellis, who is co-curating the exhibition with Charles Azzopardi.

The collection has, fortunately, been safeguarded. But much photographic material in Malta has been discarded, Azzopardi pointed out.

An international award-winning photographer himself, he has set up his own repository, Malta Image Preservation Archive (MIPA), to save as many images, negatives and equipment as he can within the constraints of limited funding and time.

Miss Twelves in her bridal dress in 1898 - an example of Richard Ellis' studio portraiture. Photo: Richard Ellis, digitised by Charles Paul Azzopardi

He claims he receives several calls every week from people who do not know what to do with their old collections of thousands of glass plates. These were often left to rot in shafts in pigeon excrement and pouring rain, said the award-winning photographer.

He hopes that the Ellis exhibition would act as a push for a photography museum to house Malta’s rich photographic cultural heritage.

“Today, photography is perceived differently. Although still a powerful tool, images can be fabricated and manipulated,” he said.

“These photos, on the other hand, are an authentic, realistic image of what there was – the only true depiction of Malta, so it is a pity they are disappearing.”

Drastic changes in Malta’s landscape

Azzopardi said the images in the Ellis collection are already instigating a “primal reaction about what we had and what we have lost.”

People instinctively react to the fact that certain sites can never be seen like that again, Azzopardi continued, giving as an example a shot of Spinola Bay, dating back to 1915, with only the majestic Spinola Palace and some arches in view.

Spinola Bay in 1915. Photo: Richard Ellis, digitised by Charles Paul Azzopardi/MIPA

 “Only if you look hard enough would you be able to spot the palace from across the bay now.”

He pointed to another image of an unrecognisable stretch of barren coast that turns out to be a completely unbuilt Marsalforn in Gozo.

“It hits you like a tonne of bricks… the thinking is: what beauty… and now it is all gone… just out of greed,” he said. 

An unrecocognisable Marsalforn in 1888. Photo: Richard Ellis, digitised by Charles Paul Azzopardi/MIPA

A centre of photography

Professional photographer Kevin Casha backed calls for a museum but said it should also be a centre of photography that would teach the skills involved and be a place for exhibitions.

“I have had so many meetings with various authorities connected to culture and museums and was, countless times, promised help, particularly before an election. However, all this would peter out after the results,” he said.

“It is a pity because so much has already been lost.”  

Sliema peninsular as it was in 1888, without Tigne Point and Fort Cambridge. Photo: Richard Ellis, digitiised by Charles Paul Azzopardi

According to national archivist Charles Farrugia, the National Archives has also “built its internal capacity to intervene and preserve audio-visual material, including photos.”

In fact the Ellis exhibition is being held with the support and collaboration of the National Archives of Malta. However, there are “no plans for a photographic museum”.

The right infrastructure to preserve photos was an archive and not a museum, he said.

He did “not agree that these photographic holdings do not have a home”, insisting that over the last 20 years, the National Archives never refused donations.

Farrugia said the National Archives was responsible for archival and not museum heritage, pointing to Heritage Malta as the entity with expertise on the latter.

The Culture Ministry did not respond to questions on the issue.