This is your second show. What do you intend to present with this new project?
This project was developed through one main idea: collaboration. Four Rooms deals with the ability and possibility of one art form developing into another. The project is concerned with the inspiration that can emerge from another artist’s work. I love the idea of interconnectivity: my visuals inspired Loranne Vella’s words; her words and my visuals inspired Julian Mallia’s design and branding; and all three of us, informed the spatial dynamic as envisioned by Claudia Vella.
Why do you call it an extensively analytical and introspective project?
In this show, I take viewers on a journey which reads somewhat like an autobiography that has been neatly packaged into four densely packed chapters.
Four Rooms is a project about human relationships and the many strata that makes us whole. This project aims to present, primarily through visual means yet also through literary means, the layered and developmental process entailed when forming human relationships. In this project my most personal experiences will be hung on a wall, and strewn on the floor. I confront my innermost secrets and present them to the world.
You have a keen and sensitive eye for the abnormal, absurd, weird and surreal. What attracts you to all things unusual, is it their ability to tell an interesting and captivating story?
I’m attracted to things and people that have a story to tell. What I’m fascinated with is the mood that the subject can put me in. However, more often than not, my work is an extension of my thoughts, dreams and reality.
Do the Four Rooms represent four ‘compartments’ in your life?
Four Rooms is about life according to my own light. However, it does not mean that I’m factually going to represent it. In this project, the psyche, body and life relationships will be dissected, analysed and presented before the viewer in an often crude, alarming, yet also poignant and intimate fashion.
And do you draw on inspiration from everyday life and experiences?
I get enthused by almost everything around me - from music to films, dreams to real-life situations…I suppose that in a right frame of mind, anything can be a source of inspiration.
How old are you and when did you first fall in love with the camera?
22 years and 11months. I’ve always had a penchant for cameras. However, it’s thanks to one of my brothers, who used to lend me his cameras when I was younger, that I’ve developed this passion for photography.
Is there a reason why you have chosen to exhibit at the Upper Galleries of St James Cavalier?
It is a location that was specifically selected, as I felt it was the ideal space where I could play and manipulate each of the rooms with ease. Having spent the past three years developing a clear concept of the best possible means of presenting this subject, I divided my work into four series – each of which tackle the human body and the human psyche through varying degrees. The rooms, although physically unconnected, will together constitute a whole.
As viewers travel from space to space, they travel deeper into my mind, eventually experiencing what I hold closest to heart. In conjunction with this exhibition, I have also commissioned author Loranne Vella to write a four-part short story directly inspired by the exhibition theme and concept. This will be presented in the accompanying exhibition publication, designed by Julian Mallia.
The whole project is being overseen by architect and exhibition designer Claudia Vella. Is she helping you with the layout?
Early on, I realised that the project I wanted to develop was more than just an exhibition comprising a series of photographs hanging on a wall. What distinguishes temporary shows abroad from those in Malta is the exhibition design. Thus, Architect and Designer Claudia Vella was brought on board to address this exciting yet under-estimated aspect, which is an altogether inherent part of the project. We have been collaborating throughout, to maximise the potential of each space whilst catering for requirements of the artwork and installations.
You have also been invited to participate in a collective show titled ‘Post Humanist Desire’, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei, Taiwan amongst leading international artists.
When will this be held and what kind of works will you be presenting there?
The launch is in November 2013 and runs till January 2014. The works that I will be exhibiting represent sexual confusion. Basically, the concept originated from the fixated and irrational idea of self-definition. Thanks to the Malta Arts Fund, I will be able to attend the launch and also, explain my works during a conference at the Moca, Taipei.
Four Rooms will be on show to the public between October 18 and November 10, 2013, at St James Cavalier's, Upper Galleries. The project is supported by The Malta Arts Fund, St James Cavalier and ILab. More of Ritty’s work can be viewed at: www.rittytacsum.com For more information contact: [email protected]