She takes photos on a daily basis, and yet, Lisa Gwen is decidedly not a photographer, in the traditional sense. She claims that hers is just an “eye for detail”, a penchant for texture and colour, and that ultimately hers is a quest to chase light and attempt to frame it.
She has a simple vision, perhaps more of a desire to share her discoveries with like-minded individuals, in the hopes that more people will open their eyes and see, not only look, at their environment and surroundings, be it urban or rural, be it random or commonplace. Titled The Hunt for Pink and Other Stories, Lisa will be showing a small selection of images captured over the past 18 months, at Solo Vinyl and Books in Msida. Inspired by her door-hunting expeditions, exploratory walks and innately curious nature, the collection of idiosyncratic snaps offer an alternative aesthetic to the picture-perfect postcards often associated with the Maltese landscape. Like a bee to honey, the colour pink has become a guiding hand, informing her pursuits, so much so, that all the other narratives seem to have become an offshoot of this inexplicable quest.
She is a curator of words and an editor of spaces. Her work and her projects are the outcomes of these often overlapping and interchangeable roles. After all, either deals with space and its distribution; with aesthetics, design, interpretation and experience. One focuses on words and type, the other on artworks and installations. Both create images and visuals; both deal with narratives.
Besides an innate passion related to all fields of visual art, Lisa loves playing local tourist. She explores sites and spaces, scrutinising the natural, the built and the ‘other landscape’, through a camera lens, then she shares her visuals through various social media platforms.
Lisa has a background in art history and cultural management and currently works as an associate in the Strategy and Funding team at Arts Council Malta; she is the founder of the MaltaDoors project.
Her show will open on Tuesday, for a four-week period, during the following opening hours: Tuesday-Friday from 10am to 2pm/4pm to 7pm and Saturday between 11am and 6pm. For more information, visit http://solovinylbooks.com/ or e-mail lisagwen@gmail.com.