With reference to Charles Vassallo’s letter An Offensive Display (March 7), I fear that he may have got the wrong end of the stick.

The exhibition in question, Adoration Of Mary, consists of a number of black and white photos of women taken in Malta.

Its title is inspired by the artist’s preoccupation that, to quote our website, “capturing, framing and presenting the female as an object of the male gaze – this has been, and still is, a powerful tradition in the visual arts. The male point of view has been taken for granted, the male agenda foregrounded, for many centuries. Its angles, conventions and language have become the dominant paradigm”.

The artist explores the gender dynamics from the female point of view of the female photographer and her female protagonist. In this respect, the title of the exhibition is a reference to the appropriation of the icon of the Virgin Mary by society and, in particular, contemporary male society.

The quotations are an invitation to re-contextualise this potent religious symbol and, thus, challenge us, the viewer, to engage and rethink, re-interpret, re-imagine and appreciate.

Far from being sacrilegious, the exhibition asks us to re-examine these gender dynamics of Maltese society through the symbol of Mary.