Malta and Gozo Students Prize 2019

A girl is held hovering in mid-air tied to a number of birds, all set in a silhouette against a sunset painted in the style of Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’. Below is a scene of the fort in the Valletta Grand Harbour.

The blindfolded woman is not seeing what is behind her. Behind her the viewer can see a cactus plant with spiny leaves that could easily harm the woman. This is a metaphor for society. The cactus represents all things harmful and the woman represents the vulnerable. We all have to open our eyes wider in life and be a voice for all those who have prisoner tongues.

This artwork was created with various concepts and views in mind regarding the theme Freedom. There are situations where we are in fact free to be or do what we desire, however, we create barriers because we do not feel comfortable with the people and their judgement and so we create a safe place which ends up being our “lack of freedom”. I painted a young girl with wings who is surrounded by gold bars.

This work shows a blindfolded girl who is hindered by the adults to see the opportunities that life offers because her future is already planned by her parents, guardians or the society itself. This work shows a cry for freedom of expression from a young age where children can be given chances to express themselves, to choose their own future. The colour scheme is just black and white reflecting the radical decisions of some adults, either black or white without giving any opportunity for grey areas where the children can be free to express themselves. The material stuck on the girl’s eyes as a blindfold is another attempt to make the work look further more realistic.

This painting symbolises how people are often paid to be silenced, thereby taking their freedom of speech. They are forced to push back their opinions and words. The ability to voice their thoughts is taken away from them. Their voices are silenced and replaced with money. We are forced to listen to the half-truths and lies, unaware of what is truly their own words.

Slavery is any system in which principles of property law applied to people, allowing individuals to own, buy and sell other individuals. By this artwork, I tried to portray and express the pain and suffering that slavery brings to its victims. Using charcoal as the medium, I kept it overall dark to continue expressing tragic system. I focused on the most important and common kind of slavery; forced labour and child labour. One can see that around these different scenes, there is chain surrounding them. Chains are a clear representation of restriction of liberty of human and animal. Therefore, with this specific chain I am suggesting that their first step out of slavery to their freedom is to break free from their chains and head on forward.

A depiction of the censorship of freedom of speech as well as the manipulation caused by media.

The artwork attempts to explain how gender roles push individuals to fit into their boxes (boy represented stereotypically in blue, girl in pink). Failure to fit into these categories can easily result in inaccurate labels regarding sexuality. The stripes represent how straight men and women are built and developed to fit in. The protagonist bleeds into the neutral yellow where his genuine self is expressed regardless of the ‘boxes’.

The subject is breaking away from the past and reaching out for a bright future. Warm colours and imagery related to freedom have been liberally used in this artwork.

My painting is full of opposites. Light symbolises freedom but also emptiness. The girl is trapped and drowning in the bulb which is full of water. The black pointillist technique shows the darkness and horror and pain of being trapped. However, the girl has a calm face as if she is free. When people think of forests, they think of them as big and free, but if you were in a forest you feel lost and trapped since you are enclosed by tall trees.

This piece shows a girl who is finally free which is signalised by the eagle, a common symbol of freedom. Her tears and aged look shows the struggles that she had to surpass to be free.