A Non-Binary Approach
So much of my identity is between binaries. The term ‘non-binary’ is most associated with gender, and indeed I am non-binary in that regard, but it extends further than that. My sexuality is fluid. My disability is not static, my ability and capacity fluctuates over time. And of course I am in a sense culturally ‘non-binary’: belonging to a nation that is often defined first by its influences.
In Marsaxlokk, the luzzu are adorned with the Eye of Horus. This custom may be a surviving Phoenician tradition to protect fisherman while at sea.
At first I sought to distil Maltese customs and conventions into two categories:
- Originating from dominating forces (for example, prescribed by the Church)
- Originating from pre-colonial/ occupation traditions
While there is some ability to uncover the origins of particular beliefs, what I have found is that the source of their creation doesn’t necessarily concern the Maltese practicing them, and they are embraced regardless.
My definition of non-binary as it relates to my identities expands beyond simply ‘a mix of two’, rather it is some third thing altogether. Malta is not some hodgepodge of surrounding nations, but has its own unique culture. In trying to dissect each ritual, tradition, and behaviour into a distinct category so that I may inspect and evaluate it, I have overlooked the complexity and richness of reality. Traditions have been reimagined over generations, and so it is unhelpful to say they originated from one group or another.
I do not seek to create an imagined phantasmagorical history of Maltese spirituality purely uninfluenced by subjugating entities. Motifs that clearly relate to Arab occupation, British Colonisation, and the Church (to name a few) bleed through, particularly in my architectural sculptures that reference castles and cathedrals: a motif of power that I aim to pervert through a stripping of specific iconography and reimagining with my gentle hand in soft clay. These sculptures, like all my work, are not a 1:1 model of some longed for, long forgotten past, but are an interpretation of Maltese culture as I research and experience it, and one that embraces the tension of complexity.