Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1547312
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 OCTOBER 2026 ART AN exhibition review by David 'dp' Attard WHAT does it mean to remain composed when the experience of daily living threatens that com- posure? In (UN)EXPRESSED, Shanice Farrugia's first solo exhi- bition curated by Mel Erixon, the self-portrait becomes a study of emotional containment; the ef- fort of holding together what can- not be said, the vulnerability con- cealed beneath apparent strength and the uncertainty of living with the possibility of loss. Through drawing and painting developed over the last two years, the art- ist turns inward, seeking not so much to represent an identity as to make visible the psychological pressures that shape it. The face is the exhibition's prin- cipal territory, but these are not conventional exercises in depict- ing likeness. Cropped, fragmented and sometimes partially obscured, the self-portraits resist the expec- tation that a face should disclose its subject. Closed eyes, upward gazes and expressions suspended between exhaustion and compo- sure become the vocabulary of an interior life. The restraint is delib- erate. Emotion is neither overly dramatized nor resolved, but held in a state of tension. The works suggest that silence is not an ab- sence of expression. It is itself a form of expression, shaped by the effort required to suppress what is felt. This approach acquires a par- ticular poignancy from the cir- cumstances informing the work. The artist's father has been living with follicular lymphoma for al- most six years and his illness in- troduces the experience of antici- patory grief. The mourning of the possibility of a loss that has not yet occurred. It is a condition in which hope and fear coexist with- out reconciliation and the pres- ent is continually shadowed by an uncertain future. Rather than illustrating illness directly, the artist explores its psycho- logical reverbera- tions, locating the burden of uncer- tainty in the face and body. The raven pres- ent in a number of artworks is associat- ed with death and omen and this gives this uncertainty a symbolic presence. Yet, its sig- nificance is strongest when it re- mains ambiguous. A witness to passing time, a reminder of mor- tality, or an embodiment of the mind's persistent anticipation of what may eventually come. The raven occupies the threshold be- tween presence and absence, re- inforcing the exhibition's central tension without entirely resolving it into a single narrative. Materiality extends this psy- chological inquiry. Kraft paper used in a number of artworks introduces an earthy intimacy, while deep burgundy evokes flesh, blood, warmth and bruising. Col- our in these artworks becomes more than a t m o s - phere. It lends phys- ical density to emotions that otherwise resist articula- tion. There are broad points of comparison with Jenny Saville's psychologically charged treatment of flesh and John Sing- er Sargent's sensitivity to light and the subtleties of expression. Yet the exhibition's distinctive interest lies in the relationship between the visible surface and the emotional life it only partially discloses. The works are most persuasive when their formal choices carry this meaning independently of the biography behind them. Their fragmentation and withholding invite viewers to recognise their own learned forms of emotion- al restraint. The expectation to remain strong, to continue func- tioning, to conceal distress despite all adversity. The personal thus becomes a point of entry into a more widely shared experience amongst the viewers of this exhi- bition. There is, however, a tension within the exhibition's consist- ency. The recurring subdued expressions, sombre palette and restrained compositions establish a coherent emotional language, but they can also limit its expres- sive range. When concealment becomes the dominant visual strategy, the distinction between individual states of feeling risks narrowing. Greater variation in tone, composition or mark-mak- ing might have intensified the contrast between fear and hope, vulnerability and endurance, making the quieter works more affecting still. Nevertheless, (UN)EXPRESSED finds purpose in what it refuses to resolve. It offers neither the reassurance of overcoming grief nor the catharsis of emotional release. Instead, it considers life as an ongoing negotiation with uncertainty. The effort to remain present while acknowledging that presence cannot be guaranteed. And these are fact of life that our society today chooses to ignore. The exhibition's most compel- ling insight is that composure should not be mistaken for peace. Behind the still face, emotion con- tinues to accumulate; beneath ap- parent strength, vulnerability per- sists. What remains unexpressed is not necessarily hidden from view. Sometimes it is precisely what the viewer must learn to see. Born in 2000, Farrugia is a mul- ti-disciplinary artist primarily working in drawing and painting. She graduated with a First Class Honours in Fine Art from the MCAST Institute for the Creative Arts and has exhibited in Malta, Londin and Berlin. (UN) EX- PRESSED runs until November 8 at 'Il-Kamra ta' Fuq,' Mqabba. (UN)EXPRESSED Adrift in Shadows As If Carved Still Consumed Shanice Farrugia