His photos have often been hailed as the best advertising and tourist-pullers that Malta could ever hope for. And now, photographer Daniel Cilia is celebrating 99 publications dedicated to our visually stunning islands with a new book that showcases some of his most well-loved works, many of which were chosen by authors who worked with him on his other books.
The aptly named The One Hundredth was accompanied by an exhibition of Cilia’s 100 books at the National Library in Victoria. The books are all a celebration of Malta and Gozo in all their glory, casting the photographer’s lens on every aspect of Maltese living, helping the viewer find charm and beauty even in the most unlikely, or mundane, spots.
From village feasts, to natural scenery, quirky characters and traditional (and not so traditional) pursuits, Cilia’s lens has captured them all, highlighting the most gorgeous elements and surprising even those who have lived on these islands for their whole lives with some discoveries.
The One Hundredth, however, is by no means a swansong, as Cilia is already working on new material that will be released in the future. This selection offers just a taste of the richness that have made the photographer’s works iconic.
Għar Mirdum (The Buried Cave) shot in March 2011 and chosen by the photographer: “A great advantage of digital photography is having the possibility of checking one’s work immediately as it has been captured. Heritage Malta needed a good photograph of the Bronze Age site of Għar Mirdum for the newly- refurbished hall about Malta’s Bronze Age at the National Museum of Archaeology, Valletta. To get down to the lower levels of this buried cave you need climbing equipment and have to crawl through a number of tight fissures and crevices. Having a digital camera down there helped me compose and check the photo of the huge lower cave which is of course completely dark. In this photo the cave was lit with a number of battery-operated torches. Using film would have necessitated much longer exposures and risk of over or under exposure. Moreover, this would have required much more equipment.”
Wenzu at Munxar, chosen by Cilia: “Malta is full of surprises and colourful characters. Sometime in 1992, I was photographing the beautiful white cliffs under the area known as Il-Munxar, between the bays of San Tumas and Xrobb L-Għaġin. On that occasion I saw a man emerging from the sea. He had a good catch of octopus caught with his home-made harpoon, a football as a buoy and a pair of thick football socks to keep his feet ‘warm’ in his flippers. We chatted and Wenzu proudly showed me his catch. “The second photo of Wenzu was taken in 2009when I was once again taking photographs at the same spot, this time for my forthcoming book Panoramic Malta & Gozo. I saw Wenzu again, this time wearing a proper wet-suit and his football socks. Alas, he had no catch this time. After 17 years he still remembered me as il-fotografu Għawdxi (the Gozitan photographer).”
Santa Marija tal-Blat with Gozo-Comino Channel, from The Making of Malta (2008), chosen by Reuben Grima: “I am still unable to look at this photograph without feeling the same tug of the seabreeze, the same awakening to the playful, teasing call of the sea that every islander knows as I felt the first time Daniel shared this image. It is an islander’s view of the world; a view from Gozo, island of Daniel’s birth and his first fountainhead of inspiration. Cross and flag face defiantly south across the sea to Malta and beyond, to the legendary homeland of adventurers and marauding corsairs that still haunt the islanders’ collective memory. Daniel has often crossed those seas, carrying the reader of his books with him.”