Patrick Fenech setting up his installation that casts ‘dancing shadows’ on a white screen at the Jesuits’ church in Merchants Street.A composition of Maltese carrots, turnips and peppers scattered at the foot of a stack of books is the last thing you expect to see at the Jesuits’ church in Valletta, adorned with Baroque features and blanketed with solemn silence.
But as Charles ‘City’ Gatt explains that the vegetables are food for the body, and the books nutrition for the mind, one’s gaze wanders to the tabernacle close by in search of the equivalent for the spirit.
Mr Gatt is one of seven artists that have come together in seven spaces in Valletta to provide an alternative – not a replacement – to the traditional seven churches visitation during Holy Week.
The installations at these seven places might be unconventional, even brazen, but this is not untypical of the Jesuits. Supported by the Malta Arts Fund, Re:Visit – The Contemporary Face of Faith is organised by the Jesuits in Malta to mark the Year of Faith.
Between today and April 7, five locations in Valletta will be hosting contemporary artistic installations by local artists Vince Briffa, Charles ‘City’ Gatt, Austin Camilleri, Patrick Fenech, Pierre Portelli, French-Canadian Jesuit Daniel LeBlond SJ, and a virtual space by Malcolm Bonello.
The installations draw visitors into a vigorous dialogue between visual art and faith.
Mr Gatt’s site-specific installation deals with the healthy nutrition of the body, mind and spirit. The vegetables will eventually decompose, just like the body, while the books will last much longer – just like how thoughts last more than a generation.
Vegetables and books are enough for a person to survive, but those who believe in spirituality need something else. The nourishment for the spirit is conspicuous by its absence in the installation and its presence in the surroundings.
Just a few metres away, Patrick Fenech uses random objects he collected from open markets in Valletta and Vittoriosa to re-enact the drama of the episode from the Bible when Christ drives traders away from the temple.
The shadows projected from the figurines onto a white screen run into each other in a perpetual dance causing elusive imagery. They interweave – giving an idea of people running into each other as they go on about their everyday lives.
Mr Fenech explains that this episode has always fascinated artists, and through his installation people can reflect on cleansing the temple (their body) by “driving the merchants away” to make space for a new spirituality.
Another installation on the same street was put up by Pierre Portelli to explore resurrection through an upward spiral of shirts hanging in the middle of St James church.
The installations can be seen at St Barbara church in Republic Street, the Jesuits’ church and St James church in Merchants Street, Tal-Pilar on West Street and St James Cavalier’s Meditation Room until April 7 between 4pm and 7pm.
On Maundy Thursday they can be viewed between 8pm and 11pm and on Good Friday between 9am and noon. The installations will be closed on Easter Saturday, but can also be seen during the normal opening hours of each venue.