The sea has always been part of Janette Danel’s life. She was “born on the sea” and after her grown up children had flown the nest she took off as well, sailing all around the world. It was from the sea that she first laid eyes on Malta, as she sailed into Grand Harbour at the end of a sailing race from St Tropez. “I was flabbergasted. It was 4am and the sun was rising over Valletta. It was so beautiful,” she reminisces. 

She stayed for a week waiting for the winds to die down, and in the meantime explored the island, stumbling across Senglea. It was love at first sight, and she knew she wanted to live there. Three years later, her dream has come true. After buying a property in Senglea, she now calls Malta home. And it is the same sea that first mesmerised Janette that has now formed the unifying theme of the exhibition she is curating, bringing together 14 female artists at the Malta Maritime Museum for a collective entitled Sea-She-Sees.

“Understanding both the importance of the sea in cultural and everyday life and the strong characters of the women I’ve met since arriving in Malta, the idea of Sea-She-Sees fell into place,” she explains. “This is a great artistic combination of women all living on the island with different nationalities, influences and visual concepts, some born here while others have only recently arrived on the island.”

The exhibition is being displayed amid engines, propellers and boat models, offering an interesting juxtaposition between the heavy machinery and the female interpretation of the maritime theme.

All the artists live in Malta but only eight of them are Maltese. The rest hail from as far afield as England, Japan, Finland, Ireland, South Africa, the Netherlands and the US. Born in Amsterdam, Janette herself has only been living in Malta for a year, so she still feels she is experiencing Malta “as an outsider” and uses her beloved 2CV to explore the island.

“I have driven my [Citroën] Dolly all the way from the South of France through Italy and down to Malta, and I have been touring the island taking photos through the front windscreen and back window. So I have been seeing Malta through Dolly’s eyes, which gives an interesting perspective. These photographs will be on display at the exhibition,” Janette explains.

Despite only being here for a short while, Janette already has her favourite spots on the island. “I love the west coast of the island which is still largely untouched. And I love the sea view from the terrace of my house in Senglea which overlooks Grand Harbour. It is like living in a puzzle, a fairytale,” she enthuses. And of course there’s that sea all around. “To be around the water everyday is fantastic. The people are open and curious, and everything is possible here,” she continues.

Janette has years of experience curating and organising exhibitions all over the world. She has worked for Sotheby’s in London, Pillips De Pury in New York and established her own galleries in Hong Kong and Paris. She is now keen to share her knowledge with the younger generations and she is looking at inviting schools to visit the exhibition and to show youngsters how being an artist can also be considered a career. 

The artists

The artists participating in the exhibition were all personally hand picked by Janette. “The whole body of work is very strong. From the very important statement works done by Celia Borg Cardona (Gone) and Ruth Bianco (Landings) to the more imaginary works by Sallyanne Morgan and Gulja Holland; to wry-like expressions by Debbie Caruana Dingli, semi-realistic expressions by Mary de Piro, Debbie Bonello, Caroline Navarro, Arja Nukarinen Callus and Miyuki Sugihara, and the purely sea-inspired Laura Swale, Catherine Cavallo, SJ Fuerst, Nadette Clare Talbot Bettridge and myself, we are all taken on a sea view encounter,” says Janette.

Explaining the “wry-like” expression behind her painting The One Million Mark, Maltese artist Debbie Caruana Dingli, who hails from an illustrious artistic family, says: “My painting was done with fear. Maybe a panic attack.... when I heard that the plan is to increase the size of our population to one million to boost the economy further. Malta is just 20 miles across, we are already way too many people on this little island. We are told the way forward is 'up'. Just think of the stress on the ground below!”

The sea and the land are topics close to Ruth Bianco’s heart, who will be displaying two panoramic framed collage-drawings and a video piece from her ongoing research project entitled Tidal Dialogues. “I am delighted to be part of this group of artists,” Ruth says. “Diversity forms a space for both emotive and expressive differences to come together, and that I believe has been the inspiration for this group show.”

“The sea has been a formative influence to me - I live by the sea, I walk by the sea, I love looking out at the sea, I have a close affinity with the sea. It is an image of flux, change, fluidity, sensuality, hope and renewal. Indeed, the sea is embryonic and shapes itself to the more constant substance of land,” continues Ruth.

She explained that her art has conceptually dealt with the contexts of space and territory. “Migration is a topic of immense interest and concern at present, and I equate my work on this with "history painting", expressed through the language of collage and video in this instance. Landings - Documents of the Sea are collages based on such narrative combining my photography with documentary media images. Maryan and Rahma is the story of a Somali mother and daughter who traversed the waters from Libya to the Mediterranean, and whose father and husband drowned in the crossing. They have struggled in seeking asylum and a way to survive. The sea can be unforgiving. The sea I see separates, yet connects.  It is formidable, fluid, pensive yet poetic, and it is these layerings that interest me.”

The work submitted by British artist Laura Swale represents a completely new chapter in her personal and artistic life, one inspired by the sea. “This work represents a total departure from my traditional figurative painting and is the result of a period of intense experimentation, which took place when I came to Malta. This period coincided with a period of intense change in my life, my work and my creative practice. I changed everything from my approach, my style, my materials and my techniques. I found it challenging, exciting, revealing and uplifting." 

"I was inspired by the colours, patterns and forms of the ocean which surrounded me as I was working in my studio by the Waterfront, but mainly the work was driven by the properties of new materials I was exploring. Ultimately this period led me to leave my full-time job to start a new business to set up open artists studios in Malta, so, demanding and problematic as it was, it has propelled me into a new chapter which offers great promise personally and professionally,” explains Laura.

Irish born Sallyanne Morgan found the exhibition theme a natural fit: "Having grown up next to the sea in Ireland, it was an easy theme for me. We all have a unique perspective. I was also happy to have the Malta Maritime Museum as the setting for the show and though about finding a way to incorporate both," explains Sallyanne.

In her first work, entitled She sells, she pays tribute to one of the early fossil collectors and paleontologists Mary Anning (1799-1847), who made important finds in Jurassic marine fossil beds in the cliffs along the south west of England. Charles Darwin used her findings in his own work. "I wanted to pay tribute to this woman and thought it would be most fitting being in the Maritime Museum," says Sallyanne. The title comes from the English nursery rhyme which begins "she sells sea shells on the sea shore..." which was written about Mary Anning.

She has two other sculptures on display: Urchin, which refers to the 16th century English word for hedgehog and which also meant "a prickly person" and Remains, which was created around the idea that when something is lost at sea, the sea takes it and creates its life around it.

Sea She Seas is at the Malta Maritime Museum, Vittoriosa, from 10th to 31st May. Open daily from 9am to 5pm. Last admission 4:30pm.