If you’re reading this, I hope you are well and enjoying the holiday season and the run-up to the new year. As 2022 is ending, I thought I’d share with you a few thoughts, updates, and words to round it up.
Firstly, I received the news recently that I’ve successfully obtained a grant from the Arts Council Malta, which will be funding what’s going to take me to Menorca, Spain in April 2023, to participate in a 7-day long painting boot camp with no other than Nicolás Uribe and guest artists Jeremy Mann, Nadezda, Vincent Desiderio, Henrik Uldalen, Emilio Villalba. It’s called Quarantine by Menorca Pulsar and will be on the island of Lazaretto of Mahón. I’m ready to be entirely humbled and surrounded by incredible individuals that I’ve been admiring throughout my career.
Secondly, I’ll be showing a painting at the Order of Malta National Art Exhibition which will be held at St John’s Cavalier, Valletta from the 24th of March - 6th of April 2023.
2022 was a busy and eventful year. I exhibited with some very dear friends and amazing artists at Dalek Gallery in Antwerp, Belgium. I had my first solo exhibition, Lost in the Ether, at Kamra ta’ Fuq. I travelled to around 9 European cities experiencing new things and art and people. In Barcelona last month I discovered the works of Guillermo Lorca García H at the Moco Contemporary. I’ll be exploring these further in 2023.
What’s in store for 2023?
To quote Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem, the themes are always the same. A return to innocence. The mysteries of the blood. An itch for the transcendental. I’ll continue to explore esoteric narratives of domestic familiarity and present to my viewers the lure (and repulsion) of contemporary life, as well as the feelings of anxiety, detachment, and frustration it generates. If it hasn’t been clear enough, my inspiration is sourced from the news, the people in my life, my surroundings, and the political and economic climate.
I’m excited to take the time in the first few months of 2023 to be entirely absorbed in a new body of work. Feel free to share reading material that you think would inspire me. I’m currently reading Man and his Symbols by Carl Jung. I’ll close this newsletter with an extract from the book, that’s been on my mind.
"Despite our proud claim to dominate nature, we are still its victims because we have not yet learned to dominate ourselves."
Thank you for all of your support over the past year. I hope you have a great start to 2023.
See you on the other side,
Nicole