Silence and enlightenment: a residency in two colours

“The figures are coming back to me,” Joyce Camilleri excitedly reported back to a friend, following a few days of experimenting with the way she handled her paintbrush. “I knew it would have been a journey to get here,” she laughs, revealing the inductive, spontaneous approach that characterises Camilleri’s current residency at MUŻA. Entitled Ochra et Nigreos and a mixed media commingling of printmaking and drawing, the residency is an exercise in constant redirection reflected in the choice of medium. The fluidity of Indian ink, the restricted palette and the idea of printmaking as a tool rather than an end product contribute to an experience where the discovery of form and shapes prevails over colour. The concept of a residency allows Camilleri to present her output as work in progress. Visitors to the Malta National Community Art Museum are able to view and interact with the artist herself, immersed in the process of creating artwork that may or may not make it to the final exhibition. This ‘behind the scenes narrative’ enables visitors to create a link between preparatory sketches and the final pro­duct and provides for an ever-changing and evolving exhibit where both...