The fourth edition of the ŻiguŻajg Arts Festival for Children and Young People opened this morning with an art installation involving 12,000 children’s paintings.

The final few sticker-paintings forming part of the installation Solo I Bambini Ci Salveranno were affixed by schoolchildren during the opening at Pjazza de Valette.

Work on the installation, by artist Austin Camilleri, had been ongoing for a number of weeks and involved the drawing of paintings by 12,000 primary schoolchildren in Malta and Gozo.

Each painting was subsequently individually digitized, printed and integrated in a public installation, bringing children’s voices to the centre of Valletta. The project forms part of the Valletta 2018 Cultural Programme and is supported by the Valletta 2018 Foundation.

Running until Sunday, the festival will feature 28 productions, including 12 foreign shows from seven countries. 

With over 132 events, the festival reaches audience figures of up to 12,000.

From music to dance, from the visual arts to puppetry, and from mime to shadow theatre, children are immersed in a set of parallel worlds where dreams and memories, forests and gardens, fairytale and reality come together to tell gripping storylines which children will relate to. Children will form part of or be able to join in some of the shows.

This year’s theme revolves around identity, a notion which runs loosely through most of the productions, aiming to help children explore notions of who they are and want to become. These are explored with great sensitivity and imagination by artists such as Trevor Zahra, Austin Camilleri, Simone Spiteri, Ruben Zahra and Vince Briffa as well as a number of upcoming artists.

ŻiguŻajg is produced by St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity with the support of Fondazzjoni Ċelebrazzjonijiet Nazzjonali and the government. 

 

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