Heritage at heart

Fund-raising can be fun and interesting, especially when it involves art and the environment. A visit to the Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA) exhibition will be worth its while this month. The paintings are varied to suit most people's taste and they are continuously being replaced by more works, so that, besides the new talent, there's always something new to see. There are about 40 artists displaying works which have been kindly put forward for this worthy cause. Most of these artists have made a name for themselves and include, among others, Anton Calleja, Debbie Caruana Dingli, Philip Chircop, Mary DePiro, Madeleine Gera and Celia Borg Cardona.

The theme of many of the paintings dealt with the subject at hand, the environment, many times especially when viewing works of well-known and established artists like Kenneth Zammit Tabona, John Martin Borg and Winston Hassall. Simon Theuma and Angela Theuma also exhibited watercolour landscapes. There were a number of abstracts, typical Maltese scenery but also village streets which deal so much with the heritage that FAA is trying to defend.

It's all happening at the Manoel Theatre courtyard and as Marquis Nicholas De Piro said in his opening speech, we not only visit the exhibition because of the art but also because of the future of our environment. Marquis De Piro spoke about vandalism and the destruction of our heritage independent of politics. He said that it is very simple to blame politicians but we should alternatively appeal to them for courage and intolerance towards acts of vandalism. "We should all be intolerant of what is wrong, deceitful and ignorant," he said. He also discussed the importance of educating ourselves and others and setting up barriers against those individuals who should know better. He very appropriately described Astrid Vella, chairman of the FAA and the mastermind behind the event, as being "surrounded by angels" and he praised the work and effort of FAA.

Marquis De Piro then turned his attention towards the paintings and stressed that the standard was high and admirable and he pointed out a change in taste with an increase of modern paintings, making the crowd laugh with his comment about how much nicer it is to have a good modern painting than a taparsi Mattia Preti. He also congratulated the new faces in the art scene and appealed to young artists to come forward and contact him for the possible third edition of his much loved book The International Dictionary of Artists Who Painted Malta.

Ms Vella also gave an interesting overview of the goals achieved by the NGO: Projects such as a new website to promote heritage sites free of charge and other legal issues which FAA are dealing with to aid preservation of local heritage.

The evening was a very successful one with an immensely good turnout and many generous patrons. A raffle kindly sponsored by a number of munificent companies closed the event.

• The exhibition runs until the end of the month and is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m