Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1490058
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 JANUARY 2023 5 KIM Sammut is the recipient of Blitz Valletta's competitive Open Call for a Malta-based emerging artist launched in 2022. As the chosen artist, Kim Sammut was granted the op- portunity to present a new pro- ject produced and exhibited by Blitz. This initiative is intended to give the successful applicant a curated platform to express themselves, an occasion to work one-to-one with an inter- national curator on a new com- mission and improve their pro- fessional skills while promoting their artistic practice, while Blitz acts as a host institution, a mentor and partner. Kim Sammut is a Maltese artist employing drawing, pho- tography and video. The bidi- mensional reality she creates offers a glimpse into what it means today for a young wom- an, an artist, to tell a story of emancipation – one that has its loopholes and crossroads, at a time marred by fractures in politics and civil society, new wars near and far, climate change and an all-encompass- ing sense of fragility. Contrary to the generation of artists that preceded her, for whom the in- ternet was often both subject and platform, Sammut focuses on real bodies and things. Her work is an attempt at visualiz- ing the existential gap between inner and outer worlds in order to explore the ephemeral sense of self, cognitive and sensorial disorientation, resistance and eventual drift – all intensified by the rise of the virtual self. AMYGDALA, the title of her first institutional solo exhibi- tion, takes its inspiration from the region of the brain that re- ceives inputs from all senses and processes emotions. As the primary interpreter of images and sounds, the amygdala can trigger a survival mechanism, known as the "fight-or-flight" re- sponse, in order to react quick- ly to life-threatening situations. At Blitz Valletta, Amygdala is an intimate collective self-por- trait delving into the quest for identity of young adults living out of sync with a commodified present which leaves no space for self-expression beyond money-making products. It is a present that Sammut keeps off-stage – the human body and its surroundings are stripped off all socio-cultural references except for a few clues – and yet we can feel its unsettling pres- ence outside of the frame. To protect the bare self, Sammut conceived a shrine-like space, disconnected from the hectic life of the capital city. Behind a heavy curtain, the visitor is in- vited to enter a dark room illu- minated by spotlights, as if they were stars pinpointing a piece of a personal universe. The ex- hibition includes four artworks, all never seen before – a draw- ing, two photographs and a vid- eo installation. Amygdala: Kim Sammut's first solo show produced and exhibited by Blitz Morph, 2021 ART