For the past few months, visual artist Patrick Fenech trained 12 young people from several countries in the basic techniques of photography.

This initiative, which formed part of the Five Senses Project celebrating the European Year Of Cultural Dialogue, brought together young people from Malta, China, Eritrea, Sudan and the Maltese-Arab and Maltese-Indian communities living here.

The project, which celebrated the sense of sight, culminated in an exhibition at the upper galleries of St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity in Valletta last month. The display consisted of a series of suspended and neatly interwoven webs of images "trapped" within the constraints of a cameo-like silhouette of the individual participants.

Every work is double-sided: one side having a simple black profile in silhouette, and the other constituting a mesh of chequered images reflecting the backgrounds and cultures of the individual participants. The suspended images could, therefore, be viewed in the round, almost like a sculpture. The images within the profiles display a variety of habitats, culinary displays, clothes, as well as the human condition in different communities, Mr Fenech said.

The exhibition-concept emerged from one of the workshop sessions conducted by Mr Fenech regarding the history of photography which dealt with the first attempts at image making dating back to the mid-18th century together with the art of silhouette making.

Mr Fenech said "photography is an excellent medium to capture and interpret diversity and promote intercultural dialogue".

The Sight-project was supported by The British Council.