Wiċċna, an at once intimate and collective compendium of lith-printed photographic portraits, by Zvezdan Reljic. The quiet celebration of the immeasurable variety of faces that inhabit or pass through the Maltese Islands, kicks off at Blitz, St Lucia Street, Valletta from tomorrow until December 13.

The project unfolds in two parts, an exhibition, and accompanying book of over 200 portraits alongside aesthetic, anthropological and literary essays on aspects of physiognomy, identity and photography, each written in the different languages that have influenced Malta throughout its history – Arabic (Walid Nabhan), English (Alexandra Pace), French (Philippe Parizot), Italian (Virginia Monteforte), Maltese (Leanne Ellul), and Spanish (Antoine Cassar).

WIĊĊNA features portraits of individuals from different backgrounds, generations and ethnicities, accompanied by a caption taken from the individual’s answer to the often complicated question “Where are you from?”

Zvezdan Reljic is a publishing industry specialist with 30 years’ experience in photography, pre-press, printing and graphic design. He graduated from Graphic Arts School in Belgrade with a specialisation in photography reproduction.

In 2015 he was commissioned by the Valletta International Arts Festival to produce portraits of 20 Valletta residents, as hand-printed lith-prints, for the exhibition Beltin, curated by Raphael Vella. In the same year he also produced 100 portraits for the breast cancer awareness campaign. The portraits were photographed on 35mm film and printed by hand.

The exhibition is open Tuesday to Friday from 1 to 6pm and on Saturdays from 10am to 1pm at the Blitz gallery in Valletta. There will also be a meet the authors and readings on November 29 at 7pm.