Whenever I have an hour to while away in gentle sunshine, I am drawn by the magnificence of the citadel to stroll its heighty barricades and amble through its windy streets. It’s a medieval city in miniature, just 200m in diameter, and yet it has a cathedral and an imposing court building in its main square, and quarters of winding paths lined either with tall stone houses or ruins that map the past.
There are regular exhibitions in arched stone rooms tucked inside the southern edge between the bastions of St John and St Michael, and this month the exhibition’s theme is The Colours of Gozo. It’s a showcase of the island in paint, on canvas and in frames, and other artforms. With an everyday eye, five local artists present their favourite views and flavours of life – from live music in Penny Foster’s dynamic brushstrokes to a spindle of a stone balustrade decorated with a whimsical underwater scene that is at the heart of life here for many: divers, a shipwreck and an octopus, his limbs curled around its base. One playful piece by textile artist Helen Anderson in particular made me chuckle – a cheeky ‘Kinnie Chameleon’ his arms wrapped around a can of the island’s delicious iconic soft drink. And yes, you too will now have the lyrics of Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon ear-worming in your head for the rest of the day.
“Loving would be easy if your colours were like my dreams,
Red, gold, and green, red, gold, and green”.
The glorious colours of Gozo.
This exhibition had been extended and will now run until 30th November 2020
