Malta has always been a place of cultural exchange, where much history was made, and stories told and retold. Its megalithic temples whisper of forgotten rituals, its Baroque cathedrals dazzle with golden splendour, while its harbours, boats, and markets hum with the rhythm of daily life. For centuries, travellers have been inspired by this island of limestone, sea, and sun, and sometimes not as glamorous, as dismissively described by Lord Byron as the land of "yells, bells and smells". This September, four artists - three from Bulgaria and one Bulgarian artists based here in Malta - present their own stories, their own impressions of Malta, in an exhibition at the Wignacourt Museum in Rabat.

Titled Dreams from Malta: Four Visual Narratives, the exhibition runs from 6 to 29 September 2025. It is part of a European project, The Road to an Exhibition, which explores how art travels across borders - not just as finished objects, but as creative journeys. This European cultural programme seeks to present Bulgarian artistic productions beyond their national borders, fostering cross-cultural dialogue and expanding audiences.

The process behind the works has been documented in film and will later take on a digital life of its own, making Malta's story visible to international audiences. The artists' processes have been documented in a short film and is being accompanied by workshops, demonstrations, and community programmes aimed at young people and diverse audiences. At the same time, a digital exhibition will later be launched on an international platform, allowing global audiences to engage with the project. The exhibition has received the financial support of the Ministry of Culture in Bulgaria under the National Plan for Sustainability and Development. The project is funded by the European Union through the NextGenerationEU instrument.

Yet it is here in Rabat, Malta, in the historic halls of Wignacourt, that the works first come together. Each artist sees Malta differently, and together they offer a kaleidoscope of visions: ancient, modern, intimate, and universal.

For Bulgarian painter Rosen Donchev, Malta is a land where myth and history overlap. His canvases feel almost archaeological: layered with ship forms, angels, ritual patterns, and echoes of megalithic temples. Influenced by both the traditional icon-painting and modern abstraction, Donchev creates visual structures that seem to reach deep beneath the island's limestone skin. In his works, Malta is not just a place to be looked at, but a memory to be uncovered - a reminder of how civilisations leave their marks in stone, faith, and myth.

In Threads of Memory, Vanya Zapryanova brings a tactile, dreamlike approach to her Malta. Working with paint, collage, textiles, and pastes, she layers her surfaces as the layering of time and archaeology itself. Her series revolves around four ideas: dreams (dissolving boundaries), threads (connections between people and places), containers (preserving memory), and island (the solitude and beauty of separation). Her works evoke a space where history thickens, where the lives of past centuries resonate softly in the present. Through colour and texture, she captures Malta not only as landscape but as atmosphere - harmonious, luminous, and timeless.

The youngest artist in the group, Kiril Katsarov, sees Malta as a living, digital collage. A designer and digital artist, he transforms photographs of Maltese streets, statues, and textures into layered compositions that recall the rhythm of mosaics. His reference point is St John's Co-Cathedral and its marble floor tombs, which he reinterprets in digital pixels. In Katsarov's work, the old and the new are juxtaposed: fragments of architecture become part of a contemporary visual poetry. Malta emerges as hybrid, dynamic, and multifaceted, much like memory itself.

For Vania Goshe, who has lived in Malta since 2008, the island is both home and muse. Her paintings brim with Mediterranean warmth: the colourful luzzu boats with their protective eyes, the preeminent Gardjola of Senglea standing sentinel over the Grand Harbour, the bright doors and bougainvillaea of Mdina, or the lively bustle of Rabat's squares. Goshe's expressive brushwork celebrates Malta's daily rhythms as much as its landmarks. Her Malta is immediate, vibrant, and alive - a place where traditions and modern life weave seamlessly together.

Seen together, these four artists remind us that Malta is never just one thing. It is at once ancient and modern, sacred and profane, local and universal. Donchev's spiritual layers, Zapryanova's dream textures, Katsarov's digital collages, and Goshe's luminous visions intersect in dialogue, showing how a single place can inspire infinite interpretations.

This is the true gift of Dreams from Malta: it reveals Malta not as a fixed image, but as a living story, retold each time through different eyes. The exhibition becomes a meeting point - of cultures, generations, and artistic languages - echoing Malta's role and unique position at the heart of the Mediterranean crossroads.

So as you wander through the Wignacourt Museum this September, allow yourself to dream along with these artists. Their Malta may not be the Malta you see every day - but it is one that invites you to look again, to feel more deeply, and to discover the island anew.

The exhibition will be open until 29 September 2025 and is being curated by Natasha Noeva.