Beyond Boundaries: Women Artists Redefining Identities and Narratives at maltabiennale.art 2024

Beginning on March 13^th till May 31^st 2024, Malta organises its first art biennale. The event features 80 artists from 23 nations, including 24 Maltese artists, and over 20 national and thematic pavilions spread across 21 historic sites in Malta and Gozo. Born in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, the biennale combines Maltese ties to the ancient world with reflections on new, modern narratives and perspectives on art and society. Sofia Baldi Pighi – biennale’s artistic director – comments on the importance of multinational and multicultural collaborations, stating – “A participatory configuration of invisible networks across the Mediterranean will connect the East to the West and the North to the South to stimulate exchange, vision and unwavering trust in individual and collective transformation.” 

“Other Geographies, Other Stories.”

Amongst many diverse, brilliant pavilions, the OmenaArt Foundation proudly presents a thematic pavilion titled “Other Geographies, Other Stories.” Nestled within the historic Fort St Elmo in Valletta, this unique exhibition curated by Natalia Bradbury, and inspired by the curatorial concept of Hanna Wróblewska, showcases the collective artistic faculty of five exceptional women artists from Poland and Ukraine. The foundation, established by Omenaa Mensah and focused on fields of art, architecture, and design, and its head – Natalia Bradbury, wanted to create an exhibition that will present young and acclaimed artists, whose works provoke reflections on community and identity. 

Navigating life through unexpected changes

Barbara Falender, Iza Jagiełło, Ida Karkoszka, Lia Dostlieva, and Aleksandra Karpowicz, although all coming from different generational and artistic backgrounds, unite in their exploration of themes such as migration, search for identity, and navigating life through unexpected changes. Their artworks cause recipients to ponder about one’s relationship with their nationality, body, sexuality, and the experiences of women and artists. Through usage of varied media such as sculpture, photography, video, and installation, they question and deconstruct the narratives born out of principles of struggle, abuse, and tribalism; instead, focusing on the exploration of social dynamics, private mythologies, and alternate histories. Moreover, their works point to their own limits created by patriarchy, historical trauma, and artists’ bodies; highlighting the important factors and boundaries incorporated in their storytelling. 

People have more in common than we think

When asked about the vision of human identity that she would like to convey through her art, and its overall relation with the theme of the exhibition, Aleksandra Karpowicz answers –

“When I first read the brief for the “Other Geographies, Other Stories” pavilion, it deeply resonated with me. It challenges the values of our society, urging us to reevaluate what truly matters. Our current societal values of competition, aggression, polarisation, and inequality are unsustainable and have led to numerous global issues. At the pavilion, I aim to share my dream of a different world, one where we slow down and connect with our dreams and needs. My work, including the three-channel video Body as Home and the performance Before the Scream, There Was a Whisper, reflects this vision. It encourages us to ground ourselves, find peace amid the chaos of modern life, and redefine our identity. Ultimately, my message is about allowing ourselves the space to be free, tuning into ourselves, and continuously asking: who am I? And what is truly important to me?”

Furthermore, the exploration of one’s self is not only limited to the individual in the artists’ examination of the event’s themes. In times of political and social turmoil, Falender, Jagiełło, Karkoszka, Dostlieva and Karpowicz, present new perspectives that promote values such as empathy, reflection, compassion, sensual pleasure, care, and solidarity. The qualities that are not often considered during discussions about current happenings, not only in Europe, but around the world. The biennale encourages a notion of finding commonalities and creating a more harmonious society within multiculturalism. 

As Aleksandra Karpowicz states – “I believe in celebrating the diversity of people, as it allows everyone to live true to themselves and embrace their uniqueness. The beauty of multiculturalism at the biennale lies in the fact that artists come from various backgrounds and cultures, each expressing themselves in their own unique way. Personally, I’ve been working on the concept of a New Human Identity, which involves redefining ourselves and focusing on our joint dreams and aspirations as a humanity, rather than differences. I’ve come to the realisation that people have more in common than we think. Our unique perspectives and life experiences contribute to the richness of the world. Ultimately, however, we all want the same things in life: health, safety, belonging, shelter, freedom, fresh food, water etc. By focusing on these fundamentals, I believe we can create a happier, healthier, and more sustainable society.” 

Small Gestures of Female Resistance 

All five artists bravely step out of the old narratives, providing fresh perspectives that ought to inspire the biennale’s participants and provoke their own reimagining of a world ruled by the principles of respect and community, rather than violence. As Lia Dostlieva – whose art is connected with her background in cultural anthropology – notes, when inquired about the overarching narrative of the exhibition and its ties to the unique setting of Malta – “The exhibition in Fort St Elmo combines the works of five female artists.

“My project, Book of Long Objects, is a distilled herstory narrative. It focuses on four female generations of one family trying to survive through the turmoils and wars of the XX and XXI centuries, making their way through Europe and Central Asia. While the conservative way of historical representation is a story of great men doing great things, the Book of Long Objects project shows a spectator series of small gestures of female resistance in disguise of fairytale-like stories, every of each is tied to a specific “long object.” As an artist and cultural anthropologist, I work with the context I have an access point to, always trying to be aware of my positionality. My own background is of a culture that lies at an intersection of various historical ties, intersections, and colonial influences, so I’m grateful to be given an opportunity to learn more about the Maltese context.”

Can we forge a new world with a different order?

As the participants navigate through the exhibits in iconic, historic sites in Malta, the maltabiennale.art 2024 invites them to ponder: Can we forge a new world with a different order? The answer, perhaps, lies within the transformative power of art and the voices of these remarkable women artists, echoing across borders and challenging us to rethink our global mindsets.