Artist ALFRED CAMILLERI CAUCHI opens up on the Mintoff monument saga and tells Ivan Camilleri how his design was inspired by the former premier’s own words.

Renowned artist Alfred Camilleri Cauchi yesterday revealed that it was Dom Mintoff himself who wanted his statue to show his fiery character.

He accused the Office of the Prime Minister of scrapping his project because “they wanted a mellower version” of the former Labour leader.

Speaking to the Times of Malta after the revelation that Mintoff’s promised statue in Castille Square had been scrapped, the artist accused Principle Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar of wanting to impose his own ideas on the design. Mr Cutajar took the decision to remove Mintoff’s statue from the revamped Castille Square, he added.

“When he was still Prime Minister, Mr Mintoff had come to my studio and after seeing some designs of other monuments he told me that if someday there would be a monument of himself he wanted it to symbolise strength,” Mr Camilleri Cauchi said.

Gesticulating with his arms as he recalled the former premier’s words, Mr Camilleri Cauchi said Mr Mintoff’s preferred posture was with his right fist up. This had impressed Mr Camilleri Cauchi.

“Instantly, decades ago, I thought to myself that it was almost certain that Mintoff would one day have a monument and memorised his posture. When the occasion arrived, I just wanted to do what he had told me.”

In fact Mr Camilleri Cauchi’s winning design pictured Mr Mintoff with his right hand up and a clutched fist.

Recounting his experience of what happened after winning the Heritage Malta competition in December 2013, Mr Camilleri Cauchi, visibly emotional, said that it was Mr Cutajar who came out with all possible excuses for this project not to be completed.

Whom are they kidding with an abstract memorial of Dom Mintoff?

“During a meeting, Mr Cutajar, in front of Heritage Malta officials who chose my design, told me there and then that he didn’t like the statue of Mintoff and asked for changes.”

Mr Camilleri Cauchi said that he agreed to make some slight modifications, particularly to show Mintoff in a mellower posture.

He said that the second design, with an open hand instead of a clutched fist, was also shown to and approved by Mr Mintoff’s daughter, Yana. She gave her green light and passed very good comments on the resemblance of the statue to the persona of her father, he added.

“Still, when we showed Mr Cutajar the final version, he did not like it, even though he did not give us an explanation.”

He said that, after a few months, he received a letter from Heritage Malta stating that his design had been disqualified as it was not original and that his project had been scrapped.

The artist, an authority when it comes to figurative monuments, said that he was very hurt by Mr Cutajar’s attitude and could not understand why the OPM reversed its decision to have a statue of Mintoff at Castille Square.

Asked whether it was true that the maquette he presented to Heritage Malta was the same one he had presented earlier for a competition by the Labour Party, Mr Camilleri Cauchi confirmed this was true.

However, he added that Heritage Malta rules allowed this so long as the statue was his own creation and had not won a previous competition.

“I cannot understand what Mr Cutajar meant by saying that my statue was not original. With my experience, I can make six different Mintoff statues and all will be original,” Mr Camilleri Cauchi said.

Earlier this week, the Times of Malta revealed that, after scrapping the plan to have Mr Mintoff’s statue in Castille Square, the OPM issued a direct order to another artist – Valerio Schembri – to come up with an abstract memorial dedicated to the former prime minister.

Sources said that this memorial, if it materialises, has the resemblance of a massive flame, almost five metres high.

However, the OPM has now encountered new problems as the cost of casting the new memorial in bronze would be prohibitive, with a price tag of over half a million euros.

Asked to comment on the new work of art replacing his statue, Mr Camilleri Cauchi confirmed that he had heard that an artist had been commissioned to make an abstract memorial.

“Why was a legitimate competition scrapped? Why wasn’t there another competition if they changed their mind and are opting for an abstract piece?” Mr Camilleri Cauchi asked.

“For me this shows that they wanted to give this project to some friend of theirs and that this was the real reason why my statue was scrapped.”

He confessed this was not his first such experience. He recounted how the same had happened when a monument for Manuel Dimech was being commissioned in the 1970s. Ironically, Dimech’s statue was also placed in Castille Square and will remain there after the revamped square is completed.

The 72-year-old artist insisted “a good artist does not bow to ideas of amateurs which don’t make any sense.

“As if we don’t know how Mintoff was. Whom are they kidding with an abstract memorial of Dom Mintoff?”

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