Malta is STUFFED…like an egg!
Finally, I managed to find one word that gathers up this tiny island. Been bouncing around the idea of ‘mix’ for a while, like ‘assorted’, diverse and such, but the words were not making the cut. In spite of that, it turned out that I only needed to look at Maltese similes and the word was just there.
I based my artwork over the Maltese simile ‘mimmlija daqs bajda’ – stuffed like an egg. Malta truly is stuffed with all sorts of things. It’s full of culture, art, history, different nationalities, beaches… even the language itself is a mish-mash of different languages. The island is also stuffed with cars, tower cranes, potholes and just well… people! And I honestly would not trade it for anything else.
In my illustration, I wanted to show the traditional side as well as how the urbanisation it taking over the island at a very fast pace. One can see a church and a tower in the image. They represent Mosta dome, the largest church in Malta and the 3rd largest dome in Europe, and Portomaso tower, the first skyscraper ever built on the island. A tower crane was a must in this drawing. The Maltese skyline is littered with them, particularly in the north east part of the island. In contract to it, I added the traditional Maltese balcony. In the drawing it is green and resting on the upper part of the eggshell. You can still see them in old town houses, however they are not built anymore. Houses are being demolished and apartment blocks are built up instead. The fish and champagne is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek approach towards conventional industries and the more modern ones. Fishing is still quite a money maker, however with igaming operators and cryptocurrecy companies setting up offices in Malta, they gave a bigger boost to the local economy, and are also known to throw quite lavish parties.
Was not expecting that the response would turn out like this. It is happening quite a lot these couple of weeks. It mirrors a lot this week’s lecture also. Roll over the next couple of weeks… curious to see what lies ahead. You can also have a look at this mini clip I created here.
