Rituals of Passage is the result of a co-creative project between Ryan Falzon, Aaron Bezzina, Alexandra Fraser, Yasmine Akondo, Mladen Hadžić, and Stefan Kolgen. Rituals are part of everyday life. During times of distress, they give comfort. The title is based on the fact that rituals can bring you from one stage to another physically and mentally. Post-covid rituals can help us find balance in a disrupted society where attention to mental health and well-being has become important. Rituals can help make us name and discuss these issues. The artists created the works with the exhibition space in mind, presenting them in such a way that they interact with each other and that they challenge the viewer, offering context for the audience to create their own story. During the opening weekend some works will be accompanied by a performance and a discussion session about the meaning of rituals will be organized, followed by a meet and greet with the artists.
The exhibition takes place from 3 March till 6 May at Valletta Contemporary in Malta. Curated by Stefan Kolgen and Ann Laenen and supported by the Flemish Community, Sint Lucas Antwerpen and Valletta Contemporary
Хомункулус Homunculus Homunkulus
Starting from a place of anxiety but also interest, I found myself between the topics of masculinity and esotericism. It was a personal quest, in which I tried to dig through these monumental elements of culture in search of material for a better self. On this search I found techniques for self-authorship and the joy of simple physical labour. In its occult aspect, the work is related to the concept of the homunculus found in alchemical texts, as well as an interpretation of the sigils of chaos magic. The work is thus a kind of meditation on masculinity, physicality, presence, and change. It explores a compulsion to create labour-intensive pieces, with lots of strokes and repetitions. For this reason, wood provided an excellent base material. Plaster copies are made from a silicon mould, but the mould was intentionally distorted and deformed to produce imperfect and varied results. The titles, themes, and nature of the objects on display all comes from my research into alchemy, which I see as an attempt to understand and master the self and the world. This is not a malevolent mastery, but a quest that centres man and harmonizes him with nature and the universe. Chiefly, I used the idea of the homunculus to create an object that sets an example or grants a wish.
The process looked like this:
