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Creative Maltese in Parallel Âť Part 1
Part 1: The Maltese Cultural Identity What constitutes the Maltese cultural identity? Identity is typically associated with language, culture, beliefs, traditions and lifestyle. Our identity is who we are, but an identity can also be fluid, and this fluidity is particularly prominent when we move to live in a different country. Here we’re often faced with a different culture and beliefsystem. We no longer have our families and closest friends with us, and often we find ourselves questioning our identity. I started the proposal for this study when I moved to Edinburgh, Scotland just a few days after The United Kingdom voted to leave the EU in a referendum. Most of the UK was and still is, almost two years later, deeply divided over whether it wants to be in the EU or not. The discussion surrounding this scenario largely has to do with identity. Being a recent immigrant in the midst of perhaps the climax of this discussion, I questioned my own identity, and as so often happens this swiftly made its way into my sketchbook, and later became a research question. I thought that the most honest way to find answers to my question was to talk to other creative Maltese nationals to see how or whether their identity had also been affected by their move from Malta to another country.
