As people of the mediterranean, the sea courses through our very being. The sea connects us, allowing us to travel from space to space; from culture to culture– allowing us to exchange the mannerisms and traditions of our ancestors. From the middle of the 19th century until the early 20th century, Maltese people emigrated in droves to countries like Tunisia, Morocco and Libya. Even till the present day, there are traces of Maltese people abroad with descendants carrying the surnames and traditions of the islanders that crossed the frequently treacherous waters of this sea, creating a complicated history now susceptible to extinction.

In this memory-sharing session, through a collaboration with Spazju Kreattiv with Art Explora, Magna Żmien invites people to contribute, speak and engage with content related to Maltese people in the Mediterranean to kickstart a discussion on Maltese emigration to North Africa, Gibraltar, the Middle East, Italy, France and other corners of this sea. This session will also include a discussion with French-Maltese artist and researcher Katel Delia who will be sharing her findings on her family’s migrations between Malta, Tunis and Marseille.

Magna Żmien will also be sharing some of its ongoing projects concerning migration beyond the Mediterranean, including an ongoing collaboration with the Maltese-Canadian museum in Toronto.

During this discussion, people are also invited to bring small batches of print photos for a mobile Magna Żmien digitisation station to contribute their stories to this gap within this community archive’s metadata. This station will be open at Spazju Kreattiv for 2 hours.

The hero image for this event is from the Joseph Mangani Collection, courtesy of Magna Żmien.

The event is a collaboration between Spazju Kreattiv, Art Explora Festival, and Magna Żmien Foundation. The event is Co-Funded by Creative Europe