A woman lifts a vase, her fingers pressing against its cool surface. It hums with the memory of earth, reshaped and glazed, its body sheltering something unseen. MUŻA invites you to witness in "Healing Vessels: Art and Vases", an exhibition that does not merely display but murmurs, breathes, and asks you to listen. From 24 April to 1 June the National Museum of Art in Malta opens its doors to a world where vases are not just objects but vessels of something deeper - remnants of water, of past touch, of time converted into contemporary paintings.
A conversation between clay, nature and art
Curated with an eye attuned to the echoes between art and the natural world, "Healing Vessels" gathers majolica vases, dressed in botanical whispers, alongside paintings born from earth's own pigments. Here, Michelle Gialanze (Mixa) invites us to slow down, to let our eyes and hands drift across surfaces steeped in the essence of roots and rain. These works are not merely seen; they are felt.
The art of healing
If nature is a balm, then art is the vessel that carries it. Deep indigos, ochres, the hushed glow of terracotta - each shade calls to something within us, something primal and unspoken.
"We wanted to create a space where visitors step into stillness, where the artwork itself breathes," says curator Louise Cutajar. "These vessels hold more than paint and clay. They hold resilience. They hold quiet beauty. They hold us."
A room that holds you
The exhibition unfolds in a newly unveiled space at MUŻA, its entrance tucked away on Zachary Street. Here, light is not harsh but soft, diffused, glancing across ceramic bodies and pigment-stained canvases. The air is thick with the scent of earth, as botanical installations embrace the walls, creating a living, breathing canvas. Step inside. Linger. Listen.
Beyond the vessel: A dialogue
More than an exhibition, "Healing Vessels" extends an invitation - to create, to reflect, to engage. Visitors can participate in talks, trace the lineage of majolica ceramics and discover the meditative practice of artistic expression.
Some art is meant to be observed. Some is meant to be held, even if only in the mind. Healing Vessels asks you to carry something away - not in your hands, but beneath your skin, a whisper of earth and time that lingers long after you leave.
This event is sponsored by APS, Victor Azzopardi Jewellers, Laferla Insurance and Muza.