Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1199625
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 JANUARY 2020 5 THIS WEEK ART in verse Oh, there can be no doubt that satire, particularly in times of social and politi- cal upheaval, has an extremely impor- tant role to play. And I would hazard to say that satirical cartoons' role is jour- nalistic, in the sense that it manifests the opinion of a part of society, while instigating resentment in that part that disowns the sentiments being commu- nicated. I have not drawn for newspa- pers for a while and in the last years I have used social media as my method of diffusion. I have been "firing with both barrels" at what is undoubtedly an un- precedented (and unacceptable) situa- tion brought about by corruption, cro- nyism and abuse of power at the highest political level in our country. My cartoons are often shared widely and invoke the expected reactions... that is, consolidation of opinion on the one side and brutal attack on the other. Trolls latch onto them with venom in the same way they would spit on a flag borne by the enemy... and the one thing that definitely stands out with regard to reaction is, again, how polarised we are... and how well manipulated by the political classes are those who (how do I put it nicely?) have little respect for self- thought and much respect for rancour, hatred and the 'us-and-them' mentality that is such an intrinsic part of our very small nation. What do you make of the Maltese publishing scene? What would you change about it? I think it's quite healthy, actually, giv- en the minuteness of the market. It is not as diversified as I would like it to be. Yes, there are publishers who stick their neck out and publish books that they know will not sell very well (or at all), because they feel obliged to enrich local publishing... but they do not operate a charity, so one understands why certain areas are so sparse. But, all told... I think that there is a relative quantity, enough quality and, barring certain areas, quite a diverse output. What's next for you? Well, my latest 'poems' are visual ones. Though the healing process has started, I'm still quite overcome by the grief at the sudden, inexplicable loss of what I cherished most in my life. I know that loss is permanent, so one way for me to "cope" with it is by manifesting it aesthetically. Since early November I have been painting those intense emo- tions digitally... a sort of cross between abstraction and the classical, since they involve both abstract backgrounds that create a sort of visual representation of particular feelings, and figures done in pen and ink, often involving a lot of cross-hatching, through the contor- tions of which those feelings can also be manifested. I have been asked by a gallery owner to hold an exhibition of limited edition prints of these digital paintings, which is tentatively scheduled for late Febru- ary. But nothing is certain yet. If the exhibition happens, a book containing all of the paintings in this series (called 'Rhapsody-in-Pain'... there are twenty five of them at the time of writing this) will also be published in limited edition. "I have been 'firing with both barrels' at what is undoubtedly an unprecedented (and unacceptable) situation brought about by corruption, cronyism and abuse of power at the highest political level in our country" Gorg Mallia Mallia has taken to social media to disseminate his political cartoons in recent years