RETHINKING THE GALLERY
Six artists take residency | R Gallery
I had always entered R Gallery as a visitor. Now, for the first time, I am entering as an artist. Over the next six weeks, I will be working alongside five other artists within the gallery as part of the R OPEN residency.
In Malta, galleries occupy a curious place. They exist in a small, tightly knit ecosystem where institutions are limited, commercial galleries are often expected to function as shopfronts, and the line between art space and event space is thin. Unlike in larger art capitals, where galleries are plugged into vast circuits of collectors, art fairs, and global markets, Malta’s galleries are driven by something else: survival, experimentation, and community. Around the world, gallery models are shifting from traditional white cubes towards more hybrid forms such as project spaces, residencies, and nomadic platforms. In Malta, this shift feels even more urgent and experimental, precisely because the ecosystem is so small.
Here, galleries rarely represent artists in the way we see abroad. There isn’t the same infrastructure of long-term contracts, collector networks, or art fairs that sustain representation in bigger markets. Instead, galleries often operate on short-term exhibitions, rented spaces, or function as event venues rather than institutions invested in an artist’s long-term trajectory. Part of this comes down to scale. Malta’s art ecosystem is small, the collector base is limited, state funding is patchy, and private investment in contemporary art is cautious. Representation, as it exists internationally, relies on consistent sales and visibility, both of which are difficult to sustain locally. This creates both limitations and freedoms. Artists do not benefit from the protection, promotion, or international reach that representation can offer, but they are also less bound to commercial demands, free to experiment, and often work collectively or across disciplines in ways that challenge traditional gallery systems.
R Gallery’s decision to open itself as a residency touches this nerve directly. It recognises that in Malta, the gallery cannot yet function like a commercial powerhouse. Instead, it can become something else: a space of trust, process, and encounter.
When I first thought about what it means to be an artist in this space, the question felt bigger than just my work. I grew up in Żejtun, spent some time in Isla, and now live in Żurrieq. Sliema, however, was never a place I felt connected to. The only link I could find was through my grandmother. She used to leave home at five in the morning to beat the traffic and come here, working as a housekeeper for a family and their shop.
Since her passing, I have been collecting her things almost without knowing why. Maybe this residency is the time to find out. My work will focus on bodily memory, silence, shame, and matriarchal lineage. One thread I am following is my grandmother’s mastectomy. I still have her prosthetics, which she found too heavy to wear. At home she would fold a dishcloth into her bra instead. Her hugs changed after that surgery, and yet her resilience has stayed with me.
During the residency I will be working with these objects and memories, casting, carving, and speculating through sculpture. The process is part sculptural, part autobiographical, and part archival. It is also open-ended, which is exactly the point. Unlike preparing for a final show, this residency is about the in-between: the research, the mess, the conversations with visitors who wander to see what is happening.
R Gallery has chosen to align with this spirit of experimentation. By transforming itself into a working studio, it has shifted from being only a place of display to becoming a place of process. This shift opens the door to new kinds of encounters.
I am not alone in this process. Five other artists are also inhabiting the gallery during the R OPEN, each approaching the space through their own lens. Laura Besançon brings her playful investigations into communication and social behaviour through souvenirs. Aaron Bezzina continues his practice of sculptural forms that flirt with both humour and risk, now inviting prompts that will be answered via Artist Intelligence. Duška Malešević explores the S-L-M
transformation in comparison to the Sliema we inhabit today. Tom Van Malderen interrogates structures and design with his sharp, architectural eye. Julian Vassallo navigates spatial and bodily narratives through photography and installation. Together, our practices overlap and diverge, creating a living ecosystem inside the gallery: six artists, six entry points, and one experiment in trust.
To reiterate, my research revolves around matriarchal lineage, bodily memory, and the silences that shape family archives. I have been gathering fragments of my grandmother’s life, her objects, her prosthetics, her quiet resilience, and letting them guide me into new sculptural forms. But the work is not only about my story. It is also about how our stories echo each other. I am interested in how other people carry their maternal lineage. How do you keep or resist what gets passed down? What do you hold onto from mothers, grandmothers, or great-grandmothers? Objects, habits, silences? What do you choose to archive, and what do you let slip away?
If you would like to share fragments of your own lineage or archival practices, I would love to hear from you. These stories will not just sit beside my work; they have the power to shift how I understand my own archive, to influence the way I see, remember, and create.
If you feel called to contribute, please reach out. Your story might become part of the sculptural work, woven into the larger process unfolding here at R Gallery. This residency is therefore more than just time and space to produce. It is also a test of what a gallery can mean here, in Malta, where the art ecosystem is small and resources are scarce. Instead of playing it safe, R Gallery chose trust: trust in the artists, trust in the process, and trust that audiences would be curious enough to meet us where we are. In that choice, they created not just an exhibition space, but a living one, which you can visit during the opening hours published weekly on their pages.
R OPEN, participating artists: Laura Besançon, Aaron Bezzina, Rachelle Bezzina, Duška Malešević, Tom Van Malderen, and Julian Vassallo. Dates: Opening One: 26.09.2025 7pm; Opening Two: 06.11.2025 7pm; Finissage: 13.11.2025. Open hours: Wed-Thur 4pm-8pm; Fri 5pm-9pm; Sat – varies. R OPEN is produced and curated by R Gallery, 26 Tigné Street, Sliema.
