Spaces in Suspension Catalogue

This project is supported by Arts Council Malta

Front cover photo: Therese Debono

Back cover photo: Joseph P Smith

2. Joseph P Smith

CURATORIAL STATEMENT

The central premise of this collaborative body of photographic work is one that does not look at time’s continuum as the deciding factor in establishing a historical timeline for the way that a building is read and experienced, but rather favours the circumstance of the actual photographic confrontation as a relevant slice of history itself isolated from the building’s timeline; a memory revisited through the multilayered levels of interpretation and meaning of the moment of encounter as that unrepeatable method which determines the way that we read the ‘nowness’ of narrative. This strategy is rather skewed as it colours this encounter’s meaning with a new tinge that bears heavily on the uniqueness of the chance meeting, mutating the work into a metaphor for the time of encounter rather than rooting it in any facet of the building’s original history.

The location that is being scrutinised is that of a place originally designed to host guests. Not only is it being reflected upon by the two artists at a time when the building has been far removed from its original purpose for decades, but moreover, in an unusual and in a very different reality. This bold documentation of place by Therese and Joe happened during COVID lockdown; an unprecedented period that due to its sudden effects on our collective psyche, did not afford us enough time to ponder on its effects and the way we were used to rationally experience life in pre-pandemic days. This surreal disjuncture in our experience of the dayto-day and our loss of familiarity of the ordinary created an unusual lens through which we experienced time, making us yearn for the moments when we could hug each other when we met, speak freely in gatherings of family or friends and even share items without any worry – all common daily activities of same building being scrutinised. The work therefore uses our still lingering concerns of social distancing as a ploy to experience the site, from afar and detached, to act as an allegory of the abnormality of isolation and lockdown.

Moreover, through this portrayal of decay in stillness, the body of work removes itself from the scurry of a hospitality location, and becomes a hospice home. The photos stand for the impossibility of hospitality during a time of isolation and the objects that accompany them not only morbidly adorn the inhospitability of the place, but alternatively also become its terminally ill patients. Spaces in Suspension reflects on the hotel that has now become an open shelter whose sole raison d’etre is to attend to the needs of its ghostly artefacts at the end of their utilitarian life, doing its best to ease their pain and soothe their symptoms.

Prof. Vince Briffa

Photo: Dragana Rankovich

ARTISTS’ STATEMENT

This building has always been there for us consciously and subconsciously as it towers above the valley. We hail from Zebbug and Rabat respectively. One of us has youthful connections with the hotel whilst the other connects to it as a landmark in the landscape she can view from where she lives.

The project was executed during the height of the pandemic and it provided us with an escape route to creativity in this particularly difficult global situation. The hotel was left in ruins, isolated from its purpose and is now acting as a hospice to the discarded objects that seem to be taking refuge from the outside world.

We took the role of contemporary archaeologists and documented these ruins through rich visuals in an attempt at preserving this site before its demolition. In the process we brought to the fore a narrative that imbues this structure with aesthetic value, even in its decaying state. We used this ruin as our fertile hunting ground in our artistic endeavour and tried to portray a sensible connection with the past. We also collected some of the discarded artefacts that played an important role in the hotel’s heydays and these are exhibited with the photographs to enhance the narrative and the sensory experience.

The ravages of time, the poignancy, musty smells and impermanence of material things offered an uncanny aesthetic pleasure and an abundance of visual triggers which could be captured permanently via our independent and yet homogeneous visual statements.

This hotel now stands as an architectural ruin that serves as an allegory of Malta’s transition towards progress. It is a space that still has connections with the past, lives in the present but has no future. It is a space suspended in time.

Regardless of its state, this once iconic building stands proudly on this imposing location. It is silent and resilient, awaiting its final fate - the erasure from the landscape and consequently, from our memories.

This catalogue includes more works from the collection and that do not feature in the physical exhibition.

We would like to thank Arts Council Malta, Spazju Kreattiv, AX Group, Frederick Clark, Dragana Rankovic and Prof Vince Briffa for their invaluable assistance and cooperation.

3. Therese Debono

4. Joseph P Smith

5/6. Therese Debono

7/8. Joseph P Smith

9. Joseph P Smith 10. Therese Debono

11. Joseph P Smith 12. Therese Debono

13. Therese Debono

14. Joseph P Smith

15. Therese Debono 16. Joseph P Smith

18. Joseph P Smith 17. Therese Debono

19. Therese Debono

20. Joseph P Smith

21. Therese Debono

22. Joseph P Smith

23.

Therese Debono

24.

Joseph P Smith

25. Therese Debono 26. Joseph P Smith

27. Joseph P Smith

28. Therese Debono

29. Joseph P Smith

30. Therese Debono

31. Therese Debono 32. Joseph P Smith

34. Therese Debono 33. Joseph P Smith

35. Joseph P Smith 36. Therese Debono

37. Therese Debono 38. Therese Debono

39. Therese Debono 40. Joseph P Smith

41. Joseph P Smith 42. Joseph P Smith

43. Therese Debono

44.

Joseph P Smith

1 10 2 3 4 7 5 8 6 9 7 8 9 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 12 1-6: Joseph P Smith / 7-12: Therese Debono

Ex-Staff of the Grand Hotel Verdala

From top left to right:

Frederick Clark (General Manager) Photo: Joseph P Smith Joseph Borg (Kitchen Manager) Photo: Joseph P Smith Mario Decelis (Marketing Manager) Photo: Joseph P Smith

Anthony Tabone (Front Office Manager) Photo: Joseph P Smith Carmen Camilleri (Housekeeper) Photo: Therese Debono