FILFLA MALTA 2018
Fine Art in the object frame 92 cm x 62 cm x 5 cm
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Filfla - a small island of the maltese archipelago,
about five kilometers off the main island,
an eyecatcher, a mythical place, a historical riddle.
By a natural disaster in a bygone age, Fifla was reduced to a lonely satellite
when the landbridge between Africa and Italy crumbled.
Every year Filfla is moving about 5 centimeters away from Malta.
Closest to the coast are the temple buildings of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra,
ancient places of worship, devoted to the Great Mother and the Fertility.
In the Dark Ages the rock - only 333 tall and 150 meters wide -
a hideout for pirateships, as well as a shelter for fishers.
A freshwater spring is located there, and - true to the Great Mother - a Lady Chapel.
Then an earthquake hits and everything is lost forever.
In the 20th. century Filfla is doomed as a part of war,
a bombing range for the British air force, a place where destruction is practiced.
The population protests as long as it takes, until Fifla is saved from total destruction.
Today, the now 60 meter tall rock is a bird sanctuary - and also prohibited for humans,
As hundreds of blind shells in the surrounding water make it extremely dangerous.
Filfla shows the unstoppable nature of change, how even stone is affected,
How even the fixed is wandering forwards, unknown to the eye, gnawed by endless waves and winds.
The work holds up against the infinite movements, takes the back-and-forth of the waves,
the sky unlocks as a white area,
and the essential part of Filfla reveals itself.