Life is full of questions that rarely bear any answers and, Her Majesty, a contemporary visual arts project, aims to raise even more unanswerable questions about life. Iggy Fenech interviews Pawlu Mizzi, the artist behind the project, to find out some concrete facts.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.”

It’s a terrible cliché and an overused quote from Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, but this phrase is only time-worn because it touches something deep and primeval within us.

A rose would definitely smell like a rose no matter what its name was, but a name is an incredibly powerful concept that sparks thoughts, emotions, desires and intrigue in our subconscious.

In fact, while Her Majesty may be a visual arts project, its name feels quizzically ludicrous, and begs many a question.

One of the works that greets you upon visiting Her Majesty. Photos: Clint Scerri Harkins

And quite fittingly too, as this project is aimed at tackling some of life’s most bewildering questions through form and colour – but only to keep us wondering about what those answers could be and if we will ever find them. I’m afraid that I don’t have the answers to those questions either.

But I do have some answers from Pawlu Mizzi, the brain and brawn behind this highly anticipated project.

How was your interest in art born?

I’ve always been very interested in art, design and culture and, in one way or another, my life – personal and professional – has revolved around those aspects.

I would say that both the highlights and the turning points in my career are linked to the people I came across, who trusted me with their knowledge and experience; people who have opened doors and motivated me to make leaps.

What is the concept behind this exhibition?

Her Majesty is my conversation with life documented in form and colour. It is a mere attempt at capturing that which is indescribable, ethereal and mostly unresolved, into a tangible form that can be reached, read and translated through the senses. Here, there are no answers, but further, and mostly unpleasant, questions.

Where did the title come from and how does the project relate to it?

Her Majesty is a title that carries a double-edged blade. It’s an obvious reference to the royal title given to a queen, yet it can also be read as a sarcastic reference to an undesired figure.

I do, after all, love sarcasm, and when that title popped in my head, it immediately felt right as it perfectly accounts for the narratives behind my works.

It aims at raising questions that will make each person ponder different things

Is this project purely visual or are there other sensorial elements to it?

Well, the visual part is purely related to a graphical intervention, but we’ve added to the interactivity of the project with a soundscape by SeeSaw Sounds. This was an artistic process in itself as a number of written texts by myself were reinterpreted into an audio-collage that will accompany the visitors around the exhibition.

How did Albert Camus’s book The Rebel influence Her Majesty?

A few years ago, while I was reading for my MA, I stumbled upon Camus’s book and it really changed my perspective on certain things.

In The Rebel, Camus writes about Mersault, a killer who is sexually attracted to women but who reserves no emotions for them. This really impacted me and I felt an affinity to the girls who loved Mersault, as well as to his dead mother.

Funnily enough, I remember reading the book and feeling distant from Mersault but empathising with his alter ego and I’m intrigued by the idea that Her Majesty is a conversation with him as a man who hides his heart to protect it. I want to seek Mersault’s suffocated heart and, together, question the majesty in the feminine essence of life. Her Majesty is a meeting point and a dialogue in disagreement between Mersault and myself.

This project is the product of 30 months’ worth of research. What did this research consist of and how has it been incorporated into the project?

Artistic research involves the documentation of experiences and the findings that result from it.

My research mainly revolved around a few strong episodes that characterised my life over the past three years. Working with found objects requires an eye for composition and a constant play with intended interventions and room for chance. And I hope this shows.

How would you describe this project?

“This project aims at introducing contemporary Maltese digital visual art under academic scrutiny… And that statement has three keywords, which are ‘contemporary’, ‘Maltese’ and ‘digital’. This is a niche sector of art within the category of visual arts, and my work deals with found digital objects, thus making the art even more specific, contemporary and innovative. The academic scrutiny needs to be dedicated to these aspects of the works, too.

That is why the project will lead up to the publication of a set of academic essays by Giuliana Fenech, Mario Aquilina, Vince Briffa, Laner Cassar, Irene Biolchini and Anna Grima, which relate to such research questions.

What is fascinating about Her Majesty is that this narrative about life leaves audiences free to interpret the art in their own, personal way.

It doesn’t try to divulge the truth, nor does it try to suppress it; instead, it aims at raising questions that will make each person ponder different things.

Her Majesty runs at the Akkademja Kulturali Pawlina, Archbishop Street, Valletta, until June 26 and is being curated by Simon Sultana Harkins.