An exhibition raising awareness on the negative impact progress is having on the natural environment has been set up by APS Bank.
Titled Time to Care, the exhibition features 12 photos which won a competition launched last year and made it to the bank’s 2019 desk calendar. More than 100 photographs were submitted.
The top prize went to Salvatore Mercieca for his photo Plastic Sea, showing the contrast created by plastic used in agriculture to grow off-season produce.
Aron Tanti claimed the runner-up spot for his photo Beauty and the Beast, showing a grey heron in flight with tower cranes in the background.
The third prize went to Times of Malta photojournalist Jonathan Borg for his photo Yay or Nay?, showing a graffiti artist wearing a mask to protect him from the toxic spray and questioning whether this art form is to be celebrated or not.
Another photo by Mr Borg made it to the calendar.
Titled Man-made Structures, it features an abandoned greenhouse ruining what could have been a pleasant countryside view.
Other photos in the calendar include that of a crocus longiflorus flower, a rare local plant, growing out of parched ground in Hope by Martin Psaila, and a man collecting batteries that were dropped off from boats in Stephen Buhagiar’s Cleaning the Seas.
More than 100 photographs were submitted
Frederick Muscat’s photo Valletta Skyline aims to show the contrast between the capital city’s skyline and that of Tigné with its high-rise buildings, while another image by Mr Tanti, titled Festa Litter, induces the viewer to ponder on the waste generated during feasts by showing colourful confetti lying on the ground behind a row of revellers.
Marconia Schembri presents Time to Stop, a black and white photo representing the domino effect of urban development, through which she urges the public to look after the environment. Another black and white image, named Progress, by Luke Formosa, features an almost leafless tree dwarfed by a high-rise building.
In yet another black and white photo titled Storm, Rene Rossignaud captures waves hitting the Valletta breakwater during severe gale force winds, which he attributes to global warming. And in Shadows of Sustainable Choices, Mario Cucciardi reminds us that we are all responsible for our carbon footprints while promoting cycling.
Hervé Delpech, head of strategy and marketing inaugurated the exhibition last week in the presence of fellow judges Jeffrey Cassar and Frederick Micallef,
Time to Care runs at the APS Centre in Swatar until March 4. Entrance is free.