Photographer with a difference

Giovanni Bonello: Nostalgias of Malta, Images by Alfred Vella Gera from 1920 to 1964, Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti, Malta 2011, €55.

The sixth volume of Giovanni Bonello’s Nostalgias of Malta is dedicated to the oeuvre of Alfred Vella Gera. As Bonello explains in his introduction, written in his usual light extremely readable style but which hides a deep erudition and a serious preparation, Vella Gera is “a photographer with a difference”.

The Sliema section features a number of photographs taken when elegance and good taste were still values to be cherished- Louis Scerri

The Nostalgias of Malta series has enjoyed a considerable popularity among collectors of Melitensia and even among general readers, mainly for its simple formula.

It consists of a short text and plenty of pictures of a bygone Malta which allows us to wallow in nostalgic feelings as we turn the pages to experience a Malta of which the older generations have only rapidly fading memories, while the younger generation have unfortunately never had a chance to experience.

So far, Bonello has presented the work of Geo Furst, S.L. Cassar, Horatio Agius, and Modiano, not to mention another well-received volume of pictures of Gozo by various photographers.

For most contemporary photographers, capturing images was primarily a business to feed the quasi-insatiable demand for postcards, among visitors and, especially, service personnel posted on or passing through the island.

These photographers had a solid technical knowledge and a respect for aesthetic considerations that elevated most of the images from a humdrum level of mere utility.

Vella Gera drifted into photography when the island had already witnessed some outstanding practitioners of the art, like Richard Ellis, the prince of them all, and the others mentioned above. His father, Walter Vella, was no mean photo-grapher and even occasionally supplied his images to print-sellers.

Vella Gera, who was born in 1901, would become a passionate photographer and an enthusiastic pioneer cinematographer while pursuing a more traditional career in banking from which he retired in 1966. He died in 1989.

Photography was, therefore, to him a side-issue which he seems to have pursued from the mid-1920s but one to which he applied himself with the same dedication he gave to his professional career.

His production of postcards, both privately and professionally printed, is notable both for the sheer quantity and for the quality it reached.

It is unjust to describe Vella Gera’s photographic work as a side-issue as this may imply some sort of amateurish attitude which was definitely never the case.

Moreover, his pioneering forays into cinematographic documentaries resulted in a priceless heritage recording past events such as carnival, the victory celebrations after the war, and the Pauline centenary celebrations of 1960, to mention just three.

His are the earliest surviving films, the ones shot by Salvatore Lorenzo Cassar in 1909 having gone presumably irretrievably lost.

Collecting all these efforts and presenting them in one DVD could be a project well worth pursuing for some enterprising publisher. The films now lie in the state TV’s vaults and form part of the Patrimonju Malti’s archives.

Perhaps the main interest in this volume is that the author was given access to the many photographs in his archives which he never published and so, unlike his postcards, are completely unknown.

The postcard business meant Vella Gera’s initial interest lay in urban and rural landscapes which dominated at first, especially in his public persona. Some of his pre-war postcards were re-issued in coloured versions after the war. This he did either by hand, or by means of a stencil, or by a commercial process.

In his postcard business Vella Gera reached high levels both in artistry and technical competence as well as in the commercial aspect. Of his 131 post-war black-and-white Bromoforo of Milan series, excellent as they were, over two million copies were sold.

Bonello’s introductory essay presents a very interesting account of this man who seems to have been dedicated to his ‘hobby’ which he practised with the assiduity and creativity of a passionate man. Quite charming is his depiction of a man who ‘mostly kept himself locked up in the darkroom and laboratory, with his family struggling to get a glimpse of him’.

The selection of images presented in this volume were of course decided subjectively by the author but he makes an effort to avoid ‘the obvious, the hackneyed, the static, homing instead on images that… are evocative, graphically striking, or informative’.

The Sliema section features a number of photographs taken when elegance and good taste were still values to be cherished. ‘Sliema Wharf’ one such, as are the various pictures of the Strand and the Front still quite bereft of cars.

The Places section covers a wider range from Pietà (with a tall ship moored next to the old customs house), Msida church its reflection in the sea, following the dumping of the war debris, Senglea is heavily scarred, Mdina looking as timeless as ever but betrayed by the solitary Morris 1,000 parked in front of the cathedral and the two male teenagers still sporting shorts and socks and shoes or the odd woman in the faldetta passing by, Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq is still just coast and fields, while ‘Paradise Bay’ is surely the same place we call by that name today.

Marsalforn still bathes in idyllic beauty and Racecourse Street still sports a few brave trees. The ‘Roman Villa’ is still higgledy-piggledy with artefacts.

The folklore sections has got its fair share of fishermen, fruit-sellers, herdsmen, lace-makers, and karozzini.

The Events section shows off Vella Gera’s journalistic eye as he captures one image after another to encapsulate a telling moment ranging from royal visits, City Gate is lit up to celebrate George V’s silver jubilee (before it was removed to make way for the modern gate-less folly that is supposed to lead one into a fortified place), while the Opera House (roof and all) is royally lit up for the same occasion in 1935.

Like the other volumes before it, Vella Gera is bound to be popular with Melitensia collectors and earn a deserved place on the bookshelves.