Six local photographers to follow
ARTZ ID picked six contemporary photographers whose work is elevating Maltese visual culture, regardless of whether they’re newcomers or seasoned professionals. These photographers’ work offers refreshing ways of perceiving our relationship with artefacts, people and the environment that surrounds us.
Alex Attard
Alex is a prolific self-taught photographer whose work has been exhibited extensively both in Malta and abroad, including the 2019 Ostrale Contemporary Art Biennale in Germany and the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. He describes his practice as often “blurring the line between document and artistic expression”, of which his project Parallel Existences is an accurate example. For Parallel Existences, Alex photographed documents from The Notarial Archives’ ‘Crying Room’ that were damaged beyond redemption during World War II, despite them being destined to never be looked at again. In doing so, he presents a narrative about absence, presence and usefulness. Parallel Existences was also published in book form and won the National Book Council’s ‘Best Book Production’ award.
From ‘Parallel Existences’ – see project
Giola Cassar
Giola’s practice focuses on the themes of identity and memory and she is a well-known name on the local artistic scene. Recently, she presented the photographic narrative Tessie in the form of a 165 page-long publication in which original and found imagery is accompanied by bilingual textual fragments. In Giola’s own words, “Tessie’ is a photo-book inspired by the personal stories of a woman who is 102 years old. Page by page, portrait by portrait, one is drawn into a biographical collage that spans more than a century.” Giola is also co-founder of Studio Solipsis and lectures in Photography and Fine Art Photography at MCAST Institute for the Creative Arts.
Joseph Smith
Although his artistic career started in painting and graphic design, Joseph Smith later adopted photography as his primary mode of artistic expression. He specialises in documentary, architecture, urban and performing arts. His work has been exhibited in Brussels and Beijing as part of the cultural program for Malta’s Presidency of the EU. He has also been part of collective shows at the National Portrait Gallery in London after being shortlisted in the prestigious Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize in 2014 and 2015.
Justine Ellul
Justine is a recently-graduated documentary photographer who has been taking pictures since 2013. She has been involved in numerous local exhibitions as well as collaborations with VOGUE Italia. Her projects include Virtues of Isolation, Kuluri, Linji Blu and Youth.
Owen Desira
Owen’s primary photographic interest lies in documenting people and places to highlight humanity’s creative capability. He is greatly inspired by the sunny Mediterranean weather, thus making his work an exhibition of ‘perpetual summer’. Owen is currently reading for a BFA in Digital Arts at the University of Malta.
From the ‘Azulejos’ series – see project
Daniela Valentino
Daniela’s profession as an architect greatly influences her way of perceiving her surroundings and this in turn becomes visible in her photographic practice. Working mostly with film, Daniela’s work is all about capturing the fleeting moment and framing it as an unexpected composition made from light, shadow and less-than-obvious subjects. She deems this her way of presenting ‘Malta unseen’.
Find out more about their work and connect with these and more artists on ARTZ ID, Malta’s largest online community of art and culture professionals.
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