Featured Works
Limbo
This pastel pencil drawing was developed after several sketches working from images, memory, and the imagination. It explores the idea of home and transition, and the relationship between the real and the imagined. It’s a portrait of myself on a moving train looking out of the window where I can see two different places: one in the UK, the place I have been living since 2015, and the other one in Malta, my native country.
The picture is divided into two main parts symbolizing the division between myself and the world outside. There are different barriers dividing the various elements in the picture: the glass which stands between me and the outside world and my reflection standing between the two different countries. The two places blend into each other and the railway tracks change and merge into the sea and the boats and the buildings and the weather change along the way as well.
The reflection is slightly incomplete and blends into the surroundings which is for me a symbol of adaptability and at the same time incompleteness.
This drawing also represents a state of mind; that of feeling like you are in two places and nowhere at the same time and explores the idea of belonging. It’s a symbol of making choices, of trying to see where you are going and where you want to be which all relates to the idea of being on journey and feeling sometimes in limbo.
Between Me and Myself
This drawing was inspired by that everyday moment when I remove the fog from the mirror after having a shower and see my face revealing itself to me in its most natural state. This mundane action is always a bit of a revelation to me which explains the expression on my face, and a moment which makes me reflect on who I am, how I see myself and what’s currently happening in my life. The hand between myself and my reflection in the mirror is a representation of wanting to reach out and comfort myself, but at the same time it’s also a symbol of how we also sometimes block ourselves and stand in the way of connecting with our true selves.
I worked from photos and adapted them to create the composition which resonated with me the most. The little drops of water, which came as a later addition were included as a symbol of transience.
This drawing was selected for the 2021 New English Art Club Annual Exhibition.
