Contextual Influences in Art & Design : "Xebgha Nies"

This exhibition took place in St. James Cavalier. It's called "Xebgha Nies" which means lots of people, which is exactly what we saw at the exhibit.People, or the artist's way of people's prescriptions.

This painting caught my eye because as soon as I saw her face, my mind went right to Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. The resemblance is all in her face, her eyes, mouth and pose. Yet the character is unique in its own way. The composition is quite balanced, with her in the foreground and the chapel in the background, the trees in the mid-ground and the two men and the stone wall.
Nemmiesa is the Maltese word for spying, which is quite obvious as two men appear to be either spying on the poor woman or else stalking her. To me, the painting represents a Maltese Folklore, especially since there's the small chapel behind them all. It also shows the connection between the "Innocence" of some women and the "filth" of some men. The lady gives that sense of purity from her blank face and clothes. She wears nothing revealing or seductive in any way, she's just a pretty fool. Whilst the men look dirty and soiled from the dark around their eyes, the shape of their heads, the evil grin the first male has and even the way they hold onto the rubble wall (which is also something typically Maltese). They reek of bad intentions whilst she glows with purity and innocence.

"Nightmare" by Debbie Caruana Dingli

This painting gives off the feel of something that is post-impressionism as it is very sketchy and unrealistic, yet you can still figure out what the artist is trying to say.
You can easily pin point the center of the image, the young boy with his hands above his head as if trying to block the taunting of his bad dream. He stands out from the rest of the figures as he has life-like peachy skin colour whilst the rest have a sort of grayish tone. The faces seem to show anger, fear, stress, worry, depression, misery, old age and death. Which all in all could be quite terrifying and drastic for a young boy to be worrying about all those negative things.

This once spoke to me as I find anything to do with motherhood as intriguing. The figure itself is not realistic, her hips are too big and her head too small. Yet that is what makes the image so interesting, eliminating the parts which give unnecessary detail like the head or the feet.This could have been done with the intention that the artist gives you that sense of motherhood by keeping the details at bay. The child also has that sense of anonymous as you can't really tell if its a boy or a girl. So the artist might want you to imagine that your that child being held by your mother, or even vice-versa.
This painting was made by 3D relief and the blues in the background give a calm yet sad and nostalgic feeling.

This small sculpture stood out in its own unique way. The figure shows an almost blank face with a key hole in its chest and a key in its upheld hand. Below him on the pedestal were the words "Who am I?" painted in gold paint.
When looking at the figure I wasn't sure if he wanted me to take the key away from him and never let him know, or take it and unlock the metaphoric mystery that has been haunting him. The fact that his head is facing the other direction and not the key in his palm makes you wonder if knowing who you really are is something you can just live without.