Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1543797
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 MARCH 2026 ART Nicole Debono exhibition to open at the Malta Society of Arts Visions Are Seldom What They Seem brings together paintings and object-based works that probe memory, lived experience, and the politics of domestic space. The exhibition will be on view at the Malta Society of Arts in Valletta from 12 March to 16 April VISIONS Are Seldom What They Seem is a solo exhibition by Nicole Debono, curated by Rachelle Bezzina. On view at the MSA Galleries from 12 March to 16 April 2026, the exhibition brings together paintings alongside related ob- ject-based pieces, to examine the instability of memory and the politics of domestic space, where intimacy can function as both shelter and precarity. Developed over a quiet- ly formative four-year period since Debono's last solo show, Lost in the Ether, this new body of work returns to the home as a grammar: rooms, hands, bod- ies, objects. Here, however, the domestic is not treated as be- nign. It is presented as a place where stories are rehearsed and revised, where meaning is man- aged, and where tenderness can slip into control. "My work begins in lived ex- perience, but it is driven by the urge to translate that experi- ence, so it can resonate beyond me," the artist explains. "Paint- ing continued to be my way of working through that emo- tional weather, by giving form to what lingers." A practical struggle – finding and claiming space to work – became a conceptual hinge for the exhibition. Debono recalls encoun- tering Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own during a 2024 trip to Bath: "On the back I read the line: 'a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.' In that moment I felt sharply seen… It was one of the events that set this body of work in motion." Working primarily in oil paint, Debono builds her composi- tions slowly and in layers. Her process begins with fragments – sketches from memory, pho- tographs, remembered rooms, textures, fabrics and patterns – before evolving through draw- ing, collage-like planning, and repeated revision. "I work slow- ly and revise constantly," she explains. "I let the image lead before I try to contain it, so the painting can hold a tension be- tween what it wants to become and what I allow it to be." The curator Rachelle Bezzina has structured the exhibition as a spatial and conceptual propo- sition rather than a linear nar- rative. "The curatorial process was not about imposing inter- pretation, but about sharpening what was already embedded in the paintings," she explains, en- suring that "the work's instabil- ity remained intact." Carefully sequenced shifts in scale, light, and psychological register en- courage visitors to reflect on how bodies, shadows, and space structure perception. Rather than offering resolu- tion, Visions Are Seldom What They Seem refuses stability, in- viting viewers to reconsider the domestic not as neutral back- drop but as a formative space that shapes memory, visibility, and power. Roderick Camilleri, President of the Malta Society of Arts, comments: "Nicole Debono's work unfolds memory, space, and lived experience with quiet complexity, inviting viewers to pause, reflect, and see the famil- iar afresh. The Malta Society of Arts is committed to young and emerging artists, providing a platform for work that stimu- lates reflection, encourages cre- ative dialogue, and reveals new insights.". Visions Are Seldom What They Seem, a solo exhibition by Nicole Debono, curated by Rachelle Bezzina, is on from 12 March - 16 April 2026 at the Art Galleries of the Malta Soci- ety of Arts, 219 Republic Street, Valletta. The exhibition is open Monday-Friday from 9am–7pm and Saturday from 9am–1pm. Admission is free. For further information visit www.artsmal- ta.org or www.facebook.com/ maltasocietyofarts. Visions Are Seldom What They Seem – An exhibition by Nicole Debono Curated by Rachelle Bezzina Dates: 12 March - 16 April 2026 Venue: Art Galleries, Malta Society of Arts Address: 219 Republic Street, Valletta Official Opening: Friday 12 March 2026 at 7pm Opening Hours: Monday - Fri- day 9am – 7pm | Saturday 9am – 1pm Admission: Free A moment from Debono's studio (Photo Rob Matthew Studio) Jo Ann (credit: Nicole Debono) Studio materials photographed in situ (Photo: Rob Matthew Studio) Left to right: Nicole Debono - Artist and Rachelle Bezzina - Curator (Photo: Rob Matthew Studio)