Engaging Maltese individuals and community groups located around the world, Valletta 2018 project Latitude 36 hopes to explore the Maltese diasporic community. Johnathan Cilia finds out more about the audio-visual arts project.
When people talk of a nation, what indeed do they refer to? Is it the geographical location of the landmass? Is it the assorted flora and fauna to be found within the confines of that nation’s borders? The traditions and cultures of the people to be found there?
A people can be defined by their ethnicity and shared culture, but what happens when some of those people leave the nation’s lands? Do they cease to belong to that culture? Or do they become a premiere export, a prime example of everything that society represents, just in a location on some other part of the globe?
While we are incessantly bombarded with a deluge of immigration stories, deeply tragic and sometimes heartwarming, we forget that one country’s immigrant is another’s emigrant. And, as hard as it is to believe, not all immigrants are fleeing war or natural disaster – some, like the Maltese emigrant community, have very different reasons to leave their home country.
It is this exact subject that the Valletta 2018 project Latitude 36 hopes to explore. Latitude 36 is a socially engaged audio-visual arts project focusing on the Maltese diasporic community.
Latitude 36 will be engaging Maltese individuals and community groups located around the world, collecting stories and unearthing both personal and collective narratives. With the help of the Maltese diaspora, the migratory experience is placed at the core, mapping and examining migratory patterns and narratives through the visual arts.
The project forms part of the Valletta 2018 Cultural Programme in the run-up to the European Capital of Culture and as part of ECoC 2018.
Following World War II, Malta’s population experienced rapid social and economic change, quickly changing from a colonial state to a European Union member. While the Maltese diaspora can be found all over the world, this project will particularly tackle the Maltese community in the UK, Australia, the US, Canada and Brussels.
“Latitude 36 is a transmedia project focusing on the Maltese émigré experience,” says Charlie Cauchi, who is leading the project. “The goal is to engender debate around the topic of migration, memory, home and identity. I hope to bring everyday individuals into the discussion and to allow them to have an active role in the provocations put forward.
“This is achieved through transmedia storytelling, using one subject – migration – and translating it across multiple media platforms. This will include a creative documentary, an exhibition, public engagement activities and a digital platform. The project engages Maltese individuals and community groups located around the world, collecting stories and unearthing both personal and collective narratives.”
With nearly every Maltese citizen boasting of a familial tie in the US/UK/Australia/Canada, this is a project that is close to home for many people, Charlie included. “Well, it is quite a personal project in many ways,” says Charlie.
The goal is to engender debate around the topic of migration, memory, home and identity
“Firstly, I was born in London to Maltese parents; so you could say that I was born into diaspora away from the place that my parents and their family called home. As a child, my father and I would visit his Maltese friends in London and I’ve lived in both Malta and the UK for almost equal amounts of time. So I find it really difficult to answer the question: ‘Where are you from?’. To me, this project is an exploration of what home, belonging and identity mean.”
For Charlie though, it gets even more personal. “My mother died over a year ago and she had moved to London with my father in the 1970s. I really regret not finding out more about what moving there at that time was like, especially for a young woman. And we’ve all seen the headlines – there is so much talk about the topic of migration at the moment.
“What with Brexit and Trump, the whole discourse around the subject of migration has become more prevalent and quite negative. Latitude 36 might focus specifically on the Maltese migrants, but at the heart of it I believe this project is universal, able to discuss what binds us together.”
To find out the intricacies and the personal details behind the Maltese diaspora’s decision to leave this little rock in the Med, Charlie and her are continuously meeting up with first, second and third wave migrants. “Many of these people have been found through events hosted by the Maltese Cultural Movement,” she points out in reference to the UK. “However, as my father spent many years there and I have an uncle that still lives in the UK since moving in the 1970s, I have been able to contact many more people personally.
“And let’s not forget that since joining the EU, many younger Maltese people – people who are friends of mine or friends of friends – are now living in the UK and have been eager to talk about their experiences and some of the provocations that I put forward. This year we are hoping to be able to interview people outside of the UK and a lot of people have come forward through our Facebook page and website.”
She is also collaborating with researchers in faraway lands with the aim of finding out more.
“Marc Sanko, a PhD researcher whose work focuses on Maltese migrants in Toronto and Michigan is also working with me to capture the experiences of the Maltese in Detroit. And many Ambassadors and institutions around the world have been very interested in taking part. I can’t wait to meet these people in person... there are some amazing stories out there,” she says.
Indeed, this project is a collaboration of several individuals, all in search of further information as to why people leave their homeland. “While I am the project lead – directing, producing and curating Latitude 36 – I have a fantastic team of people collaborating on the project,” she says. “Ali Tollervey is a fantastic photographer and is moving into cinematography a little more. He works in both music and film and has photographed the likes of Pattie Smith, Sir Alan Parker, Liam Gallagar and many more. With regards to the film Rebecca Anastasi is co-producer of the documentary. She’s a warm and beautiful soul, with ample experience to boot.”
“Working on the website with Clint Tabone, who is one of the partners and a designer of the media company Hangar, has been such a pleasure,” she says. “I’m also lucky to work with artist Seb Tanti Burlo’, who is working on some of the visual aspects of the project. For the live components of the work, I am collaborating with Jo Palmer, a London-based designer working in performance and live-art, as well as artist and set designer Sandra Zaffarese.”
Having a dedicated team and having searched through archives in the UK as well as PBS and Dar L-Emigrant, Charlie is still looking for as much information as she can get her hands on. “We’re looking for people to share their stories with us – wherever you are in the world; even if they have returned to Malta – share with us any old photos or home movies they may have.”
Latitude 36 hopes, through its research, to discover a deeper reason as to why so many of us find it imperative to leave home.
As Charlie herself says about this project: “Emigration is part of our history and identity. There are many themes that can be discussed. What does home mean? What have these experiences of migration been like? Did people suffer any setbacks? Whether collectively or individually, what contributions have these Maltese made to the places that they have relocated to? By examining migration from a Maltese perspective, I am sure there are others that will be able to identify with this work.”
If you would like to contribute to Latitude 36 you can contact the by sending an e-mail to contact@latitude36.org.