Giulia Privitelli | University of Malta (original) (raw)
Papers by Giulia Privitelli
Note di Pastorale Giovanile, 2022
An exploration of our “restless search” for beauty through Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince and ... more An exploration of our “restless search” for beauty through Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince and the tragedy of Narcissus and Echo.
Victor Pasmore Gallery, 2016
A catalogue for the permanent display of Victor Pasmore works at the Victor Pasmore Gallery, Vall... more A catalogue for the permanent display of Victor Pasmore works at the Victor Pasmore Gallery, Valletta.
The incredibly rich and diverse range of subjects depicted on the ground-floor rooms of Verdala P... more The incredibly rich and diverse range of subjects depicted on the ground-floor rooms of Verdala Palace include a series of historical events, allegorical personification, representations of virtues and several divinities from Roman mythology, and a number of biblical scenes inspired from the Old Testament. It is here, too, where a visual biographic narrative, possibly the first of its kind in Malta, recounts the journey of a Cardinal Grand Master’s rise to supremacy within the Order of St John is portrayed. These paintings were originally devised by the Tuscan-born painter, Filippo Paladini (c. 1544-1614), who eventually did his time as a forzato on the Order’s galleys. However, they have stylistically suffered from a turbulent history and are nowadays, largely the product of a period of neglect and successive restoration interventions in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Yet, the profound and comprehensive iconological analysis of these wall paintings, seen against a scientific backdrop, has revealed new insights into the formative and iconographic authenticity of the decorative programme, despite the changes incurred over time. Ultimately, the arguments presented in this post-graduate dissertation, bring to light the numerous factors necessary for the design of the decorative programme within Verdala Palace – factors which rely less on artistic practice, virtuosity and invention, then they do on princely authority, memory and identity as measures for regulating the manner in which the edifice is, and can be, perceived. The conclusions reached, thus, consider the design layout of the Verdala Palace wall paintings as cross-roads where the interdependent role of the patron-prince and artist-servant intersect, interact and ultimately, become virtually indistinguishable in a programme that has all too often been undervalued for its artistic importance in a Maltese sixteenth-century context.
Religion and the Arts, 2022
In this paper, Caravaggio’s painting of The Beheading of St John the Baptist located in the Orato... more In this paper, Caravaggio’s painting of The Beheading of St John the Baptist located in the Oratory of the Co-Cathedral of St John the Baptist, in Valletta, Malta, will serve as a backdrop to qualify and analyze the religious and aesthetic experiential value that such an artwork could generate within the beholder, by considering its eschatological and soteriological implications and context, as well as the notion of ‘image as mirror’ and its effect on the viewer’s consciousness. This will primarily be discussed across two binaries: early seventeenth-century Hospitaller spirituality and the precarious condition of the artist, himself a novice of the Hospitaller Order of St John the Baptist. Guided by the changing artistic, didactic, and functional uses of the Oratory, and the theological implications of the painting, the Beheading will thus be analyzed in its affordance for both transcendental and self-reflective revelation, and as a turning point for the aspiring novice, the artist ...
Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, 2022
In the decades following the Second World War, Argentine-Italian artist Lucio Fontana (1899–1968)... more In the decades following the Second World War, Argentine-Italian artist Lucio Fontana (1899–1968) became singularly concerned with the creative possibilities of the hole or cut; a hallmark of his artistic career and with which he is almost exclusively and synonymously associated to this day. The crucial phase of Fontana’s artistic output under discussion coincides with a period of resistance against the threats of technology to human integrity and presupposed unity; the inclination of modernity to enslave both artist and beholder through the destruction of the independent image—an attack on the physical and spiritual activity of creation and perception. Thus, guided by Fontana’s positive defiance and insistence on the image-gesture of the hole or cut, this series of works will be considered within the Christian framework of incarnational and soteriological doctrine. The implications of the void in Fontana’s work may thus be seen in light of the Paschal mystery, first as an address to man in transition, the psychologically anguished human being confronted by the radicalised reality and perceptions of the human body’s relation to space and, secondly, to man’s earthly condition and existence affronted by the abyss of nothingness and the void; the empty tomb. It is at this point that the role of the beholder becomes most critical. If, as it is argued, Fontana’s art is one that aims for unified wholeness, then it is an essentially relational art. Thus, while the image nonetheless exists independently of the beholder, it acquires fuller meaning through the viewer’s reception—in a way, the beholder’s response to trauma. This engagement with the artwork as a point of entry, both as a place of refuge or recovery of self, may be transposed to the faithful’s attitude of receiving the truth—and creative spirit—of the resurrected Christ, whose post-Crucifixion appearances are characterised by gestures of breaking or the visibility of the wounds, or conversely and more pertinently to the contemporary context, whose only visible image is, paradoxically, the “painful” mark of absence.
The implications of the cut-wound as an ambivalent open space are manifold and is here explored in terms of both the artist’s creative act as well as the beholder’s participation in the essential transfiguration of the wound from a site of emptiness and absence, abyssal nihilism, and finality, to a self-denying eternal image of infinite and uncontainable extension. In the first instance, the act of creation is situated in the seemingly contradictory and paradoxical violent gesture of destruction. The view adopted here, however, is one that considers Fontana’s gesture as a constructive and liberating act, necessary for the transcendence of materiality towards the abstraction of a sign—the cut (taglio) as wound—exhibiting its own ontological reality. This notion is explored further through its historical and medieval representation and symbolism as well as through a reflection on the timelessness of the woodcut medium as an image-making process based on transformation on: (re)creation through impression. In the case of Fontana’s tagli, the pierced image is explored in its relation to mortality, immateriality, and the eternal, illumined by the artist’s own theoretical vision of art as well as theo-philosophical notions on relatedness, encounter and, ultimately, community. Such notions are further brought into dialogue with Biblical representations of the wound and its implications on permanence, identity, recognition, and conversion, whereby the wound becomes an active and living space for encounter, memory and, ultimately, restoration and transformation.
Treasures of Malta, 2021
This is the third installment in which some of the wall paintings within the first-floor rooms of... more This is the third installment in which some of the wall paintings within the first-floor rooms of Verdala Palace are discussed in their implication of rest, peace, and divine providence
Nothing Really Matters, 2021
Catalogue accompanying Debbie Caruana Dingli's exhibition 'Nothing Really Matters', held at Spazj... more Catalogue accompanying Debbie Caruana Dingli's exhibition 'Nothing Really Matters', held at Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, between 4-30 May, 2021.
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Nothing Really Matters showcases a recent series of works by artist Debbie Caruana Dingli, that questions the emotional, psychological, and spiritual impact of loss, separation, guilt, repentance, shame, confusion, fear, and solitude—snippets into the emotional state of mothers of convicted criminals. These mothers, however, are fictional characters, born in the mind of the artist and inspired through a passing comment in a local newspaper: ‘Mr *** looked very emotional, especially when his mother, who was present in the jam-packed hall, could not hold back the tears’ (20 May 2019). Such brief snippets into the life-shattering moments of anonymous mothers are what moved Debbie to create this series of works. But here, in a sort of twist of fate, it is not the criminal who is being interrogated or cross-examined, but the mother—the overlooked protagonist and, often, secondary victim of her child’s crime.
The nature of the project is driven largely by reflection rather than research into real-life cases and comments. It is symbolic, as the title itself implies, of the crisis and uncertainty that follows once something so emotionally and spiritually intertwined with our own physical lives is ruptured—the bond of a mother and her child.
Għamlulna Ġieħ: Michele Cachia (1760-1839), 2016
A catalogue entry on 'Linear Symphony No.3' and 'The Eye and The Symbol', two works by Victor Pas... more A catalogue entry on 'Linear Symphony No.3' and 'The Eye and The Symbol', two works by Victor Pasmore (1908-1998) which were exhibited in 'Malta. Land of Sea' in Bozar (Brussels) February - June 2017, on the occasion of the Malta Year of the Presidency.
The entry is published in 'Malta. Land of Sea.' Exh. Cat. (Malta: Midsea Books, 2017), pp.126-129
The Ottoman Empire was increasingly perceived as a weakening naval and military threat throughout... more The Ottoman Empire was increasingly perceived as a weakening naval and military threat throughout the centuries following the decisive Battle of Lepanto in the second half of the sixteenth century (1570-1571). Indeed, several of its corsairing activities and raids resulted in a series of failed military attempts, of which the 1614 attack has often be seen to form part of. The principal aim of this paper is to provide a historical and socio-political context for the Ottoman incursion of 1614 in Malta, together with a detailed account of this considerably undervalued episode of Maltese and Hospitaller history. The study, although largely dependent on seventeenth and eighteenth-century reports and chronicles of the Order of St. John, is not merely a historically-based narrative of the events induced by the invasion, but rather, it seeks to explore contrasting perspectives of the political, military and strategic implications prior, during and subsequent to the attack, and to determine the immediate and eventual impact the attack had on both the locals and the Order of St. John in Malta.
Treasures of Malta, 2021
This second instalment addresses the relationship between select late sixteenth-century printed w... more This second instalment addresses the relationship between select late sixteenth-century printed works of the Order of St John and the decorative programme of the entrance vestibule main hall at Verdala Palace, Buskett.
Treasures of Malta, 2021
The first of three articles about Verdala Palace, offers a reflection on Grand Master Verdalle’s ... more The first of three articles about Verdala Palace, offers a reflection on Grand Master Verdalle’s retreat as a means to assert himself as a respectable prince of the Order of St John and of the Catholic Church
![Research paper thumbnail of Catalogue entry: Joan Miró, Tête, oiseau [Head, Bird], February 18, 1976](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/57388611/thumbnails/1.jpg)
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Treasures of Malta, 2018
A question-based discussion about the points of contact and departure of the works of the two Spa... more A question-based discussion about the points of contact and departure of the works of the two Spanish masters, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, exhibited in 'Picasso & Miro: the flesh & the spirit' at The Grandmaster’s Palace in Valletta, Malta (7 April - 30 June 2018)
Drafts by Giulia Privitelli
Note di Pastorale Giovanile, 2022
An exploration of our “restless search” for beauty through Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince and ... more An exploration of our “restless search” for beauty through Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince and the tragedy of Narcissus and Echo.
Victor Pasmore Gallery, 2016
A catalogue for the permanent display of Victor Pasmore works at the Victor Pasmore Gallery, Vall... more A catalogue for the permanent display of Victor Pasmore works at the Victor Pasmore Gallery, Valletta.
The incredibly rich and diverse range of subjects depicted on the ground-floor rooms of Verdala P... more The incredibly rich and diverse range of subjects depicted on the ground-floor rooms of Verdala Palace include a series of historical events, allegorical personification, representations of virtues and several divinities from Roman mythology, and a number of biblical scenes inspired from the Old Testament. It is here, too, where a visual biographic narrative, possibly the first of its kind in Malta, recounts the journey of a Cardinal Grand Master’s rise to supremacy within the Order of St John is portrayed. These paintings were originally devised by the Tuscan-born painter, Filippo Paladini (c. 1544-1614), who eventually did his time as a forzato on the Order’s galleys. However, they have stylistically suffered from a turbulent history and are nowadays, largely the product of a period of neglect and successive restoration interventions in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Yet, the profound and comprehensive iconological analysis of these wall paintings, seen against a scientific backdrop, has revealed new insights into the formative and iconographic authenticity of the decorative programme, despite the changes incurred over time. Ultimately, the arguments presented in this post-graduate dissertation, bring to light the numerous factors necessary for the design of the decorative programme within Verdala Palace – factors which rely less on artistic practice, virtuosity and invention, then they do on princely authority, memory and identity as measures for regulating the manner in which the edifice is, and can be, perceived. The conclusions reached, thus, consider the design layout of the Verdala Palace wall paintings as cross-roads where the interdependent role of the patron-prince and artist-servant intersect, interact and ultimately, become virtually indistinguishable in a programme that has all too often been undervalued for its artistic importance in a Maltese sixteenth-century context.
Religion and the Arts, 2022
In this paper, Caravaggio’s painting of The Beheading of St John the Baptist located in the Orato... more In this paper, Caravaggio’s painting of The Beheading of St John the Baptist located in the Oratory of the Co-Cathedral of St John the Baptist, in Valletta, Malta, will serve as a backdrop to qualify and analyze the religious and aesthetic experiential value that such an artwork could generate within the beholder, by considering its eschatological and soteriological implications and context, as well as the notion of ‘image as mirror’ and its effect on the viewer’s consciousness. This will primarily be discussed across two binaries: early seventeenth-century Hospitaller spirituality and the precarious condition of the artist, himself a novice of the Hospitaller Order of St John the Baptist. Guided by the changing artistic, didactic, and functional uses of the Oratory, and the theological implications of the painting, the Beheading will thus be analyzed in its affordance for both transcendental and self-reflective revelation, and as a turning point for the aspiring novice, the artist ...
Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, 2022
In the decades following the Second World War, Argentine-Italian artist Lucio Fontana (1899–1968)... more In the decades following the Second World War, Argentine-Italian artist Lucio Fontana (1899–1968) became singularly concerned with the creative possibilities of the hole or cut; a hallmark of his artistic career and with which he is almost exclusively and synonymously associated to this day. The crucial phase of Fontana’s artistic output under discussion coincides with a period of resistance against the threats of technology to human integrity and presupposed unity; the inclination of modernity to enslave both artist and beholder through the destruction of the independent image—an attack on the physical and spiritual activity of creation and perception. Thus, guided by Fontana’s positive defiance and insistence on the image-gesture of the hole or cut, this series of works will be considered within the Christian framework of incarnational and soteriological doctrine. The implications of the void in Fontana’s work may thus be seen in light of the Paschal mystery, first as an address to man in transition, the psychologically anguished human being confronted by the radicalised reality and perceptions of the human body’s relation to space and, secondly, to man’s earthly condition and existence affronted by the abyss of nothingness and the void; the empty tomb. It is at this point that the role of the beholder becomes most critical. If, as it is argued, Fontana’s art is one that aims for unified wholeness, then it is an essentially relational art. Thus, while the image nonetheless exists independently of the beholder, it acquires fuller meaning through the viewer’s reception—in a way, the beholder’s response to trauma. This engagement with the artwork as a point of entry, both as a place of refuge or recovery of self, may be transposed to the faithful’s attitude of receiving the truth—and creative spirit—of the resurrected Christ, whose post-Crucifixion appearances are characterised by gestures of breaking or the visibility of the wounds, or conversely and more pertinently to the contemporary context, whose only visible image is, paradoxically, the “painful” mark of absence.
The implications of the cut-wound as an ambivalent open space are manifold and is here explored in terms of both the artist’s creative act as well as the beholder’s participation in the essential transfiguration of the wound from a site of emptiness and absence, abyssal nihilism, and finality, to a self-denying eternal image of infinite and uncontainable extension. In the first instance, the act of creation is situated in the seemingly contradictory and paradoxical violent gesture of destruction. The view adopted here, however, is one that considers Fontana’s gesture as a constructive and liberating act, necessary for the transcendence of materiality towards the abstraction of a sign—the cut (taglio) as wound—exhibiting its own ontological reality. This notion is explored further through its historical and medieval representation and symbolism as well as through a reflection on the timelessness of the woodcut medium as an image-making process based on transformation on: (re)creation through impression. In the case of Fontana’s tagli, the pierced image is explored in its relation to mortality, immateriality, and the eternal, illumined by the artist’s own theoretical vision of art as well as theo-philosophical notions on relatedness, encounter and, ultimately, community. Such notions are further brought into dialogue with Biblical representations of the wound and its implications on permanence, identity, recognition, and conversion, whereby the wound becomes an active and living space for encounter, memory and, ultimately, restoration and transformation.
Treasures of Malta, 2021
This is the third installment in which some of the wall paintings within the first-floor rooms of... more This is the third installment in which some of the wall paintings within the first-floor rooms of Verdala Palace are discussed in their implication of rest, peace, and divine providence
Nothing Really Matters, 2021
Catalogue accompanying Debbie Caruana Dingli's exhibition 'Nothing Really Matters', held at Spazj... more Catalogue accompanying Debbie Caruana Dingli's exhibition 'Nothing Really Matters', held at Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, between 4-30 May, 2021.
---
Nothing Really Matters showcases a recent series of works by artist Debbie Caruana Dingli, that questions the emotional, psychological, and spiritual impact of loss, separation, guilt, repentance, shame, confusion, fear, and solitude—snippets into the emotional state of mothers of convicted criminals. These mothers, however, are fictional characters, born in the mind of the artist and inspired through a passing comment in a local newspaper: ‘Mr *** looked very emotional, especially when his mother, who was present in the jam-packed hall, could not hold back the tears’ (20 May 2019). Such brief snippets into the life-shattering moments of anonymous mothers are what moved Debbie to create this series of works. But here, in a sort of twist of fate, it is not the criminal who is being interrogated or cross-examined, but the mother—the overlooked protagonist and, often, secondary victim of her child’s crime.
The nature of the project is driven largely by reflection rather than research into real-life cases and comments. It is symbolic, as the title itself implies, of the crisis and uncertainty that follows once something so emotionally and spiritually intertwined with our own physical lives is ruptured—the bond of a mother and her child.
Għamlulna Ġieħ: Michele Cachia (1760-1839), 2016
A catalogue entry on 'Linear Symphony No.3' and 'The Eye and The Symbol', two works by Victor Pas... more A catalogue entry on 'Linear Symphony No.3' and 'The Eye and The Symbol', two works by Victor Pasmore (1908-1998) which were exhibited in 'Malta. Land of Sea' in Bozar (Brussels) February - June 2017, on the occasion of the Malta Year of the Presidency.
The entry is published in 'Malta. Land of Sea.' Exh. Cat. (Malta: Midsea Books, 2017), pp.126-129
The Ottoman Empire was increasingly perceived as a weakening naval and military threat throughout... more The Ottoman Empire was increasingly perceived as a weakening naval and military threat throughout the centuries following the decisive Battle of Lepanto in the second half of the sixteenth century (1570-1571). Indeed, several of its corsairing activities and raids resulted in a series of failed military attempts, of which the 1614 attack has often be seen to form part of. The principal aim of this paper is to provide a historical and socio-political context for the Ottoman incursion of 1614 in Malta, together with a detailed account of this considerably undervalued episode of Maltese and Hospitaller history. The study, although largely dependent on seventeenth and eighteenth-century reports and chronicles of the Order of St. John, is not merely a historically-based narrative of the events induced by the invasion, but rather, it seeks to explore contrasting perspectives of the political, military and strategic implications prior, during and subsequent to the attack, and to determine the immediate and eventual impact the attack had on both the locals and the Order of St. John in Malta.
Treasures of Malta, 2021
This second instalment addresses the relationship between select late sixteenth-century printed w... more This second instalment addresses the relationship between select late sixteenth-century printed works of the Order of St John and the decorative programme of the entrance vestibule main hall at Verdala Palace, Buskett.
Treasures of Malta, 2021
The first of three articles about Verdala Palace, offers a reflection on Grand Master Verdalle’s ... more The first of three articles about Verdala Palace, offers a reflection on Grand Master Verdalle’s retreat as a means to assert himself as a respectable prince of the Order of St John and of the Catholic Church
Treasures of Malta, 2018
A question-based discussion about the points of contact and departure of the works of the two Spa... more A question-based discussion about the points of contact and departure of the works of the two Spanish masters, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, exhibited in 'Picasso & Miro: the flesh & the spirit' at The Grandmaster’s Palace in Valletta, Malta (7 April - 30 June 2018)
The relatively long history of the open-air theatre somewhat attests to the flexibility of its st... more The relatively long history of the open-air theatre somewhat attests to the flexibility of its structural form, both in terms of visual appearance and functionality. In spite of this, the prolongation of a structure through time does not entirely secure its permanence as it is nonetheless subjected to change. Indeed, the various stages of development of the open-air theatre imply such a change within its physical form. Change, however, does not only occur linearly, but may manifest itself in the creation of something new, which may very well be the case when it comes to the architecture of the amphitheatre and odeon. The relationship of the structural form and functional properties of the amphitheatre and odeon to that of the classical theatre as a manifestation of the evolution of architectural thought, theory and practice will be discussed in this brief paper.
Walking in Circles, 2018
The writer, the artist, both pilgrims, intertwine their life experiences and art forms as they re... more The writer, the artist, both pilgrims, intertwine their life experiences and art forms as they reflect on art, nature, childhood, growth, death; on feelings and thoughts that we cherish, question and fear in a landscape that looks the same, but is forever changing. The writer and the artist, two pilgrims walking in circles, on a journey which ends where it also begins, salute us and walk on, never alone, but always in hope.
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Walking in Circles is an illustrated poetic journey that lasted one full year. On the 1st of September 2016, I set myself a challenge to write a poem every day to contest the idea, or excuse rather, of the “muse;” to prove that each passing day holds a unique insight into the manner in which we view and navigate through the world, through our daily encounters and struggles to understand our place in the world. It is a highly personal journey, but explores the common terrain of the human and natural world, memory, time, and life/death and lie/truth cycles. These are the main recurring themes of the poems, fifty-two of which were selected for this collection, and which Malta-based cartoonist Steve Bonello has illustrated to complement the raw, ambiguous, and “abstract” landscape of the poems, encouraging further layers of interpretation through the dialogue of text and image.
With an introduction by Dr Giuliana Fenech.
Published by Kite Group, Malta.
Supported by Arts Council Malta.
Il-Knisja Parrokkjali ta' Santa Katerina ta' Lixandra fiż-Żejtun, 2020