People like anniversaries. And if it is the anniversary of an unpleasant event, like the collapse of the Azure Window, they pay tribute. So on 8 March 2018 social platforms in Malta were abuzz with people remembering the Azure Window. Many organisations as well as individuals took this opportunity to offer up tributes in various forms in remembrance of Gozo’s most beloved rock.
An artistic tribute was held at Lazuli Art Gallery in Gozo in the form of an art exhibition by French artist Patrice Pantin, curated by Oliver Plique. Pantin says in the exhibition catalogue that he was ‘astounded by the collapse’ and drew his inspiration for this exhibition from it.
With the collaboration of diving schools he ‘exhumed’ 4 fragments of rock from the seabed at the site of the collapse which he then used to produce amazing painted prints. Pantin has perfected a ‘cloth technique’ that produces wonderfully abstract works. They appear photographic but at the same time the use of cloth gives them a veiled quality, making the image elusive. The effect is deepened by the use of a simple palette of black and white with just the occasional dash of colour.
Oliver Plique says that Pantin’s technique “imitates photography’. Indeed it does, but I would say only in appearance, not in substance. His unique process is laborious and time-consuming yet it produces works of an ephemeral quality. This for me was the true connection to the Azure Window. I felt that his works wonderfully documented and represented the transitory qualities of nature. They confirmed in me the belief that Nature reveals its treasures to us at will but at the same time has the privilege to take them away if and when it sees fit.
A totally different, slightly tongue-in-cheek, tribute was organised by The Gabriel Caruana Foundation at The Mill in Birkirkara as part of VIVA (Valletta International Visual Arts Festival). It was called The “Azure Watch: Office for Public Memory” and has recently closed after acting as a “public record office” for memories of the iconic rock window.
I think it was a fantastic initiative. Mainly because of its interactive aspect, and also because the exhibition showcased not just the melancholy side of this anniversary but revealed many more perspectives of what the Azure Window was and represented.
There were the painterly tributes (of varying quality) as could be expected. There were old photographs that people had been invited to bring in, some of them just simple nature shots and others mementos of people’s life events with the Azure Window as a backdrop.
There was of course the reference to the Azure Window’s appearance in Game of Thrones and tables full of postcards and stacks of printouts from social media containing comments from people at the time of the collapse. There were video installations and even sheets of Maltese stamps bearing the image of the window.
My personal favourites were an abstract weaving by Alda Bugeja, with its own "window", the opportunity given to visitors to reassemble the Azure Window in form of a jigsaw puzzle, and maybe the cheekiest of all, the “souvenir shrine” - an altar laden with offerings of souvenirs of the Azure Window - was it dedicated to the God Mammon?
Ever since the window's collapse people have asked "How can we replace it?"
I think what we should ask is "Why didn't we protect it more?" and "How can we do better in future?"
And the morale of the story? Stop yearning for what is gone, go out and protect what still is!
Here are the links to the website and Facebook page of Lazuli Art Gallery in Gozo and a press release about the exhibition "Tieqa tad-Dwejra" .
In this interview you can find out more about Azure Watch and the creative minds behind it.
And have a look at what they are up to at The Mill - Gabriel Caruana Foundation at the moment.
