Għadajjar Għajnejja: Ebbs & Flows Exhibition to Open at the Malta Society of Arts This Octoer
The exhibition Għadajjar Għajnejja: Ebbs & Flows is a solo exhibition by Miriam Galea, featuring a collection of works taking liquidity and invisibility as their theme. The exhibition will be on view at the Malta Society of Arts in Valletta from 22 October to 12 November 2026.
The exhibition Għadajjar Għajnejja sits at the intersection and turning-point between literature and visual arts, combining Miriam Galea’s recent experimentations with the visual medium with her earlier literary works: “After publishing two picture books, Ors (Bear) and Ġewwieni/Innards with Kotba Calleja, I wanted to extend my practice spatially in the gallery space.” Matching medium to theme, Galea uses highly diluted ink, water, and print-making, to convey impressions of liquidity and invisibilty at the edges where disappearances and beginnings take place – a place that is itself unstable.
Galea studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels for her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts – Drawing, which she is following up with a Master’s degree in Drawing. This exhibition showcases the work she produced in the past year, alongside some earlier works. Galea declares, “I have always been fascinated about moving between disciplines, from writing to drawing, from the page to the exhibition space.” She explains that even in her picture books, her process was to start from the visual dimension and let the story develop around that.
Galea’s media of choice are painting, ink, charcoal and pencil, “balancing between lines and masses.” She experiments with different ways of print making, including using soaked crepe paper, dripping water or ink, and marking with strips of paper or wood.
Sun’s Reflection, 2026, 32x48cm, 21x29cm, acrylic on paper, papier de soie
The exhibition is focused on liquidity and invisibility, as the next stage in a pursuit that has preoccupied Galea for years. In Galea’s recent works, this takes the form of “testing the point at which something becomes visible or valid, questioning the boundaries between things”, including between presence and absence. She became interested in “tracing the trace itself”, by applying “barely visible brushstrokes using highly diluted ink or at times only water and tracing their edges before they evaporate into thin air.” Galea’s work delivers impressions and tentative gestures that are not-yet-images – in Raphael Vella’s words: “They drift like ghosts across sheets of paper: diluted washes that lift themselves into silence.”
This involves a constant tension between ambiguity and definition, with gestures in the free movement of water frustrating the attempt to fix or chase the traces. Galea reflects: “Working with an uncontrollable medium, trying to capture or mimic its fluidity, leads to a reflection on ephemerality, in line with Zygmunt Baumann’s concept of contemporary ‘liquid life’.” She uses these characteristics of the medium to comment on experiences such as childbirth and maternity.
Galea describes her process of artistic creation as one of discovery, where the material and process lead. She searches for “sense and pattern” in what is produced, which involves taking a distance: “almost removing yourself from your work, only to inevitably find yourself again laterally in the end.” The exhibition offers a dreamy yet dynamic experience, ranging from the “moody to the jubilant”.
Nigel Baldacchino is the exhibition designer while Annalisa Schembri is the project manager. Side-events will accompany the exhibition, featuring collaboration with other artists. These include: the actor Ruth Borg’s opening night performance; an exhibition tour by the artist along with the launch of the second edition of Loranne Vella’s feminist book Marta Marta, published by Aphroconfuso, on the 1st November at 6pm; and the catalogue launch on the 11th November at 7pm, with a panel discussion moderated by Raphael Vella. The catalogue will feature essays by Raphael Vella and Gabriel Zammit, as well as writings by Galea herself. This project is supported by Arts Council Malta. The Farsons Foundation is sponsoring the project.
The President of the MSA, Dr Joe Borg, comments: “Art is often exploratory – it explores experiences, spaces, abstractions. Galea’s art takes the exploration to the thresholds.”
Għadajjar Għajnejja: Ebbs & Flows, a solo exhibition by Miriam Galea, will be on view from 22 October to 12 November, 2026 in the Art Galleries of the Malta Society of Arts, Palazzo de La Salle, 219 Republic Street, Valletta. The exhibition is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 7pm, and on Saturday from 9am to 1pm. Admission is free. For further information visit www.artsmalta.org.
