Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/869387
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 3 SEPTEMBER 2017 39 This Week Rel-ink – Indelible narratives Among birds of prey, falcons are the speed junkies, and they are superbly built for it. One of these is the Eleonora's Falcon (M: Bies tar-Reġina), a slender, long-winged, often dark bird that breeds on seacliffs of Mediterranean islands. Malta seems perfectly qualified, but if the Eleonora's Falcon nested in the past, it certainly doesn't today. We may have lots of cliffs for this bird, but we also have lots of hunters ready to blow the bird out of the sky for fun. So we only get to see Eleonora's Falcons on migration, usually late in the season. Incredibly, these birds fly all the way from the Med to Madagascar to spend the winter: that's a good 7000km across sea, desert, mountain, savannah, rainforest, etc. These birds never fail to boggle the mind. Incidentally, the Eleonora in the name refers to a 14th century rather avant-garde noblewoman who passed laws to protect the bird in Sardinia, where the bird still breeds in good numbers today. Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate Text Victor Falzon Photo Aron Tanti 573. ELEONORA'S FALCON GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 476: PROTECT OUTDOOR PLANTS - If a cold snap is coming, cover outdoor plants with sheets of newspaper, and secure them to plant stems with clothes pins. This only works if the weather is dry. Although Friends of the Earth appeals for additional EU funding for nature it rejects any proposal that integrates nature into unproven market-based instruments and turns biodiversity into a tradable commodity as a basis for finance, as this threatens to further deplete biodiversity and sites. The wider countryside across Europe is already severely degraded, particularly in more densely populated areas. Biodiversity offsetting and habitat banking through a potential 'No Net Loss' initiative has been mooted as one way to provide innovative finance for funding conservation and restoration. An offsetting scheme would aim to make up for biodiversity loss in one area by financing restoration or protections in another. However, such a strategy would be flawed and risky and would distract from proper and concerted conservation activity. By promising to restore or even increase biodiversity elsewhere to compensate for its destruction, such a mechanism would facilitate nature destruction in the first place, delivering a 'license to trash'. An offsetting mechanism would open the door to putting a price on irreplaceable nature and turn biodiversity into a tradeable commodity. Moreover, experience has shown how difficult it is to replace nature once it has been destroyed – due to the complexity and lack of enforcement. Previous offsetting efforts have often had poor overall results. The Commission must not propose a mechanism for biodiversity offsetting – instead it should strengthen approaches to avoid damage in the first place. 10 actions for a biodiverse Europe No offsetting TATTOO art today is very vis- ible and has become part of main- stream contemporary pop culture. This is a far cry from how the Western World has for centuries viewed this art form. Until fairly recently, tattoo art was perceived as taboo, with deeply held preju- dices against the practice mostly associated with unruly sailors, wa- terfront workers, prison inmates and the criminal underworld. As part of the REL•INK project, an exhibition, will be hosted by Heritage Malta at the Malta Mari- time Museum in Vittoriosa on 6th October 2017. The personal oral history accounts of participants will feature in the exhibition to- gether with images of their tattoo designs. The ultimate objective of the REL•INK project is to docu- ment twentieth century tattoo designs in the Maltese population with the aim of building a digital archive that will feature as an open source resource. The project REL•INK, looks at the tattoo art of elderly Maltese male informants aged 75 years of age and over, who worked on ships or on the waterfront such as stevedores, fishermen, longshore- men, dockers, sail makers, sailors, stewards, coalmen, firemen, Royal Navy service men, Merchant Navy men, firemen, stokers, labourers or in related occupations. REL•INK will explore tattoos and their significance in the day to day life of these port workers, labour- ers or seafarers at a time when the maritime sector was the mainstay of Malta's colonial economy. The project's aim is to research and document the tattoo practices of the Maltese, the motivating factors for the acquisition of tattoos and to bring to the notice of the public early 20th century Maltese tattoo artists and their handiwork. Historical research gathered from the National Archive of Malta shows that tattoos were in- cluded in passport documents and referenced as visible distinguishing marks. The Mediterranean port city of Marseille in France was a popular destination for seamen and waterfront workers seeking a better life or seasonal work in the early part of the 20th century. This project also researches these migratory links and points of en- gagement with Marseille, looking at references to tattooing and the Maltese from French archival and literary sources. The project focuses on various aspects related to maritime his- tory including employment, eco- nomic and maritime traditions and the movement of seamen and port workers from the 1900s up to World War II. REL•INK is a community out- reach project in collaboration with the Malta Maritime Museum, the Library Information and Archive Sciences Department of the Uni- versity of Malta and Arts Council Malta . It is inviting the public to participate in the project by com- ing forward with stories, memories and images related to Maltese tat- too art and traditions from this pe- riod. REL•INK is also a Citizen Sci- ence based project that seeks the assistance of the public in order to preserve the historical narrative by documenting images and oral ac- counts of tattooing in Malta. We therefore welcome your inquiries and any information on tattoo de- signs from the early 20th century. Contact us if you are over 75 years of age, have tattoos and would like to share your stories, or if you have elderly relatives or friends over 75 years of age with tattoos, who would like to share theirs or if you have other visual documentation such as photo- graphs, drawings, etc that show tattoo designs from Malta made before 1950s. If you have tattoo related objects from this period you are also invited to get in touch with us. You can reach us on 9946 7189 or send an email on relinknarratives@gmail.com First National awards to celebrate Malta's artistic achievements ARTS Council Malta launched a national awards programme to celebrate the achievements of Malta's cultural and creative sec- tors during a press conference ear- lier this week. Il-Premju għall-Arti will be Malta's most prestigious award that acknowledges excel- lence in artistic work premiered during the year. The award, a sculpture in glass and ceramic by Maltese artist Kane Cali, was unveiled by Min- ister for Justice, Culture and Local Government Owen Bonnici dur- ing a press launch at the Phoenicia Hotel. Bonnici said that, "Artists and art organisations are the driv- ing force of Malta's creative ecol- ogy". He explained how Il-Premju ghall-Arti, announced as a budget- ary measure for 2017, is a unique opportunity to acknowledge and to celebrate the success of our art- ists on a national level. Albert Marshall, Executive Chairman of Arts Council Malta stated that the awards reflect the objectives of the Council's Cre- ate2020 strategy. "The awards will bring to the fore the distinc- tive creative contributions made by artists and arts organisations and the impact of their work on the cultural sector, audiences and communities," Marshall said. Eleven awards will been lined up for the ceremony to be held in Jan- uary 2018. Toni Attard, Director of Strategy at Arts Council Malta announced that the nomination process for eight of the awards will be based on an open call whereas the Lifetime Achievement award and the Ambassador for the Arts award will be recommended by Arts Council Malta. The first edition of Il-Premju għall-Arti covers projects, produc- tions or activities in the cultural and creative sectors which have been premiered or presented be- tween September 1, 2016 and Au- gust 31, 2017. Nomination forms for the fol- lowing categories will be received until the 27th October 2017: 1. Best work for young audiences 2. Best project in the community 3. Best artistic programme or season 4. Production of the year 5. Best creative enterprise 6. Best international achievement 7. Young artist of the year 8. Artist of the year The guidelines and nomination forms are available from www.artscouncilmalta.org