Book depicting unspoiled Malta of yore shames 'so-called progress'

The launch of a book of photographs depicting Malta between the 1890s and the 1930s was not just a cultural event but also served to give vent to feelings of frustration at the "shocking" development and "so-called progress" that has ruined Malta. Judge Giovanni Bonello's Nostalgias Of Malta: Images by S.L. Cassar From The 1890s To The 1930s aptly stirred a strong sense of nostalgia for what Malta once was - as the title suggests.

Launched by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti at the Hotel Phoenicia last Tuesday, the book presented the opportunity for the foundation's general editor, Paul Xuereb, and artist, columnist and guest speaker Kenneth Zammit Tabona to comment strongly on the state of the country due to over-development.

"If the government and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority do not take their environmental responsibilities seriously, books like this will become the sole documentary repository of images of Malta and Gozo that have been obliterated by what a small section of the population like to call progress," Mr Zammit Tabona said in his presentation of Nostalgias Of Malta.

"A cursory look at (Salvatore Lorenzo) Cassar's photographs would make anyone with a modicum of sensibility stop in their tracks in shock for what we have lost since his day is tragically irreplaceable," he continued.

As an artist who enjoys painting en plein air, he said, choosing locations that were relatively unspoilt was sadly becoming a very difficult task. Referring to Mr Cassar's practically aerial view of Mġarr Harbour, taken from Chambray, he said "the present transformation could not be anything but a transmogrification".

Leafing through the mesmerising array of Mr Cassar's work, including Maltese landscapes and seascapes, Mr Zammit Tabona nostalgically - and angrily - noted that the "ubiquitous oil drums and defunct washing machines had not yet replaced the rubble walls".

Dr Xuereb was equally irked by the contrast between Malta then and now, indirectly highlighted in the book, referring to the "decades of terrible, so-called development, which have changed the face of the country".

He described the changes that one could notice thanks to Mr Cassar's photographs as "horrible" and "quite a shock", hoping they could get through to some of the politicians.

The 13th book by Judge Bonello that Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti has published - his most sought after being the Histories of Malta, the Nostalgias - were never intended to be a series, he said, adding that an archive of the national memory had to be compiled and his "putting together of things that are ephemeral in the printed form" was a step in that direction.

Some 320 original, rare and even unique images found in the book were chosen from Judge Bonello's own extensive, private collection of Mr Cassar's work.

He was not avant-garde and did not indulge in experimental, provocative and abstract photography, but Judge Bonello considers him to be one of the greatest of his time. The choice was not easy as the level of Mr Cassar's productions was "excellent" and choosing between excellent and excellent is no mean feat.

The book is divided into four sections, including events, Mr Cassar having been one of the first press photographers. More of a studio and a portrait photographer, his panoramas are also "substantial and extremely valuable", Judge Bonello said.

Paying tribute to Mr Cassar, the European Court of Human Rights judge and a leading historian said that "were it not for him and his work, our collective memory of 150 years ago would have virtually disappeared".