The artist behind a church painting honouring murdered migrant Lassana Cisse Souleymane has been left stunned and angry by the hateful and cruel social media comments in reaction to his work.

Souleymane, a 42-year-old Ivorian father of two, was murdered as he was walking home along a rural road in Birżebbuġa in 2019, in what is suspected to be Malta’s first racially motivated killing.

Now, the parish church of St George, of Victoria, has immortalised the murdered migrant in one of a series of murals painted by young Gozitan artist Manuel Farrugia.

The paintings, unveiled recently, are part of the basilica’s ongoing project called Fejn hu Ħuk? (Where’s your brother?).

But news of the Lassana painting provoked hatred on social media. Several people voiced indignation at the decision to honour the migrant, accusing the Church of favouring some victims over others.

“The reaction angered me so much. Why all this hatred? How could such a small thing… a small painting… lead to so much hate? Why do people feel so threatened?” Farrugia told Times of Malta.

He said the mural was completed four months ago and the Victoria community had embraced the idea of having a series of paintings representing the different realities of today, including the one featuring Lassana. 

But the same could not be said of those reacting on social media, he said.

“I expected some reaction of course, but not this. It is worse than expected. As an artist I have a duty to represent the times through my work. I work mainly on sacred art but how can we move forward if all we see are works based on biblical episodes?”

He hoped the negative reaction generated by the artwork would lead to attempts to understand why so many people felt the need to spew such hatred online.

Echoing the artist’s remarks, Archpriest Joseph Curmi said the reaction could not be ignored, especially when it came from those who he believes have no knowledge on the issue.

'We are unfortunately used to it'

Unlike Farrugia, however, the archpriest said he was not surprised by the comments as he was aware of the severity of the problem.

“Of course, I felt some anger initially, but we are unfortunately used to it. My aim now is to understand where all this is coming from,” Mgr Curmi said.

In recent months, and ahead of the painting being completed, the Victoria community was taking part in an education programme aimed at addressing such issues.

Mgr Curmi said although some were initially sceptical about the Fejn hu ħuk? project, inspired by Christ’s acts of mercy, through dialogue with experts they later came to understand the rationale behind the works.

None of the parishioners complained about the Lassana mural, he said.

'Unchecked hate speech could lead to tragedies'

Contacted for a comment, Equality Minister Owen Bonnici, who recently unveiled Malta’s first anti-racism strategy, said the migrant’s murder was “a stark reminder that unchecked hate speech could lead to hate crimes with tragic consequences”.

“Hatred goes against the sense of humanity which is at the core of our values as a Maltese nation,” Bonnici said.

The minister said the strategy was aimed at shaping, “in a proactive manner, a society where we stress that in public discourse, online activity, and indeed in all interactions, it is a democratic right to hold a view about multiculturalism and diversity, but that the line has to be firmly drawn at where hate starts”.

Graphic: Christian Busuttil

What do the comments say?

 A good number of those commenting on social media said it was “unfair” that the Church was honouring the migrant and not other Maltese victims.

“Oh, come on, are we serious? There were so many Maltese who were murdered, where is their painting? You bunch of lackeys!” one said on Facebook.

On this claim, artist Manuel Farrugia said the series of paintings actually honour different people with different experiences, including, for instance, a prisoner depicted holding a key.

This meant that those reacting so harshly had no idea what the project was about and were spewing racially motivated hatred without even knowing anything about the initiative, he said.

Other users described the announcement “as fake news” while some aimed their criticism at the Church.

“It’s unbelievable what the Maltese church has come to,” one comment read as another user said it was pushing people away through such acts.