Polish artists set up exhibition to raise funds

Two young Polish girls, Maria Gerber and Izabela Cichonska have set up an exhibition of paintings of Valletta to raise funds that will be used to create awareness of historical monuments in their home-town, Wroclaw.

Playing With Malta is the title of this 10-day exhibition put on with the help of The Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) and which opened yesterday at The Ministry of Tourism (Auberge d'Italie) in Valletta.

The exhibiting artists have been in Malta for the past three weeks to try and produce as many paintings as possible to include in their first exhibition.

A series of roughly 70 works in watercolour and graphic ink are being displayed in the majestic corridors of the Auberge d'Italie. The watercolour paintings chiefly represent a variety of scenes in Valletta, depicting skylines, wooden balconies and swooping streets.

These are intermingled with seascapes often punctuated by traditional luzzus.

The graphic works are almost surrealist in nature, combining elements of Maltese culture and history in a playful, tongue-in-cheek manner, where chess-pieces represent monuments and precarious crane-like industrial structures attempt to dislodge the domes of cathedrals.

Maria Gerber and Izabela Cichonska are not artists per se - they are 22-year-old students who are currently studying architecture.

They are also presenting a number of projects to improve tourism in Wroclaw.

One of their projects in Wroclaw shall be entitled Look Up, which will see the creation of a glass walking trail embedded in the city's pavements. Although this project is still in its initial stages, a total of 30 trail markers have been planned.

The exhibited paintings are all on sale and the proceeds shall be donated towards their cause. An auction of selected paintings was also held yesterday as a further attempt to raise funds.

Playing With Malta runs until August 29.