SEEING VALETTA THROUGH A SUBJECTIVE LENSE

SEEING VALETTA THROUGH A SUBJECTIVE LENSE



The world of academia is a world closely tied to the concept of objectivity. Not being influenced by personal feelings or opinions, when considering and representing facts or data is commonly expected when joining into an academic conversation. While an objective approach is indispensable in the academic discourse, subjective experiences are fading into the background. The trend of banning any subjective account from academia arguably distances its participants from urgent emotionality and heated engagement, caused by personal beliefs. Thus, one could claim that it is precisely our subjective receptivity that can help us to understand the relevance of a phenomenon by establishing a personal relation between an individual and an object. In this prospect, I actively chose subjectivity to be the guiding approach of this blog post which is examining Valetta as the European Capital of Culture 2018 as a cultural object.

Instead of exclusively analysing objective facts and data concerning geography, climate, demography, economic status of Valetta, I will try to contribute relevant knowledge to the academic canon by investigating Valetta through observing, experiencing and feeling. When trying to find an appropriate format to convey my subjective observations and experiences in Valetta, I realized that my passion for photography takes a major influence on how I engage with and perceive the city scape of Valetta. Acknowledging that photography as a practice itself is essentially subjective, I believe that every photograph I have taken in Valetta is not only a subjective representation of Valetta, but moreover a personal connection between myself as the photographer and the city as an object. The following three photographs will illustrate a subjective account, representative of some of my impressions of Valetta.  

#1 - Hints of History: A former Crown Colony   

Roaming through Valetta, you will discover them everywhere: The red telephone booths that are commonly perceived to belong into a different city, namely London. Illuminated by night time and photographed in the day time, they are silent symbols for the British influence that seemed to have left its mark on the little Mediterranean island. For over 150 years, Malta was known as The Crown Colony, a British Protectorate, before gaining full independence in 1964. With English as an official language, left-hand-driving and more subtle signifiers such as the telephone booths, it becomes evident that Malta’s everyday life remains closely linked to a colonial past. While strolling through the hilly streets of Valetta, a horse carriage slowly passes me: In the back, an old couple  and on the coach box, a young Maltese man. I hear him picking a small talk conversation with his passengers and when the couple tells him that they were visitors from England, the coachman throws his hands up in the air and yells: “Wonderful! We love people from England”. Personally however, I wondered to which extent other Maltese locals are aware/ approving of the British influence on their society. 

#2 Welcome to Valetta

“Welcome to Valetta!” is written on a big banner that one needs to pass when entering Valetta through the old city gate. Tourists seem to have made the city centre their own. In big masses they push past the souvenir shops in pedestrian zone, towards the hanging gardens to watch the daily spectacle of a gun salute. And while one would presume that the local population would have already established a culture of tourist exploitation, shallow conversations and casualness, I am surprised by the engagement and helpfulness of the Maltese. It seems that the only thing Police officers ever do, is helping tourists to find their way around the city. Any bus, ferry or taxi offers an opportunity for small talk. One afternoon, a restaurant owner in Valetta joins us at the lunch table. After curiously asking about the purpose of our stay in Malta, he invites us on a tour through the basement of his house which is tied into the underground tunnel system of Valetta that was established in 1524. When we sit back down at the table, he smiles at us and says: “In Malta, we do everything slow. It is the island vibe.” When he bursts out in laughter, I wonder whether it really is this mysterious island vibe that is responsible for the big welcoming culture and whether the welcoming culture is directed to any visitor that sets foot on the island or if it is predispositioned for people from particular national or ethnic backgrounds. 

#3 Constructing Valetta

Cranes and Real Estate Agencies are probably one of the first things that I observed in city scape of Valetta. When wandering through the outskirts of Valetta, I noticed that the absence of personality in architecture really shaped my impression of the city. Terraces are hardly equipped with furniture and flowerpots that could add a drip of colour to the ever-yellow lime stone bricks are hard to find. Occasionally, you see a clothesline tight under a window on which some old towels delay a ghostly presence, yet human presence in the quite side streets is rare. Only with time I realized that the reason for this absence of personality might be, that a large number of apartments, houses and garages are abandoned or put up for rent or sale. Nonetheless, construction seems to happen everywhere on the island. While writing this blog post, I became aware of the fact that I never actively paid attention to whether this construction work is dedicated towards new buildings or rather infrastructural projects, since I was majorly distracted by examining the people who were doing the construction work. I find it important to mention that the majority of construction workers, I have observed on the island were from a supposedly migrant background. Acknowledging the fact that Malta serves as a (temporary) domicile for approximately 10000 refugees from the African continent, they seem invisible in the Urban tissue of Valetta. Interestingly enough, the only professions in which I have witnessed supposedly migrant presence, were the ones of construction workers, dish-washers and garbage men which made me wonder to what extent a migrant background is determines one's social status in Maltese society.