Ancient civilizations lived on rituals and deification of animals, celestial objects, and natural phenomena. Their iconography was sometimes related to an immanent push that is also the paradox of sex and death, Freud’s Eros and Thanatos. Borg may have been trying to understand and relate to this search for posterity inherent in these civilizations – the need for symbols as a ticket to their celebration by future generations.

Wanderlust overpowering an artist

Jack Kerouac’s words “because he didn’t have a place, he could stay in it without getting tired and because he had nowhere to go but everywhere, he kept turning under the stars” agrees with Borg’s need to get away from everything, even from his island . but.

There is an obvious dichotomy in the landscape genre in Borg’s case – her Maltese landscapes differ in many ways from their ‘Irish’ counterparts. This may be a necessity for practicing backward, summoning to lands beyond our shores. Her paintings of the Grand Harbor area, where her current home was located, combine the solidity of history, especially that of the Knights, the mercantile activity, with the soul of the Grand Harbor. Great and its surroundings.

Mount Gabriel Grigal

Her words briefly define what these landscapes are: “It is these buildings, ships, boats and mechanical constructions that give our ports their particular character – even though the massive walls define their space. . ”

She advanced the analogy for a long-held attribute of the Maltese people: “As a port, we can be welcoming and open. Like bastions, we can be defensive, impervious, motionless, and floating. Although I chose not to literally explain this metaphor in a painting, it helped me to ‘personify’ the walls and paint them as a living element of our city’s landscape. ”

Her Maltese landscapes were not limited to her photographs of the port and its surroundings. She changed her palette when she painted the open Maltese countryside and life outside her home comfort zone. Ocher and red predominate in these cases, reflecting the blazing heat of the Mediterranean climate. She painted the transformative humor of the Maltese countryside and sea and their sublime interactions. At times, she included figures in serious conversation in these landscapes.

Rain on Brandon Bay

The Irish landscape of Borg shows its pains to be away from these shores for periods of time. She was often drawn to the emerald island and to the breathtaking beauty of its dramatic landscape. The ranges of pure Irish nature are dramatic; hi, i]da, toqg[od lura milli tin[abbar mill-‘greenness’ li jista’ jiknes saqajh, spe/jalment meta wie[ed jikkuntrasta man- aridità kwa]perennials of our country.

Irish landscapes are more fluid in composition, reminiscent of the approach adopted by American artists Arthur Dove, Milton Avery and Marsden Hartley. These artists abstracted the American natural landscape by submitting compositions with repeated motifs.

Pink Morning

The sun is a strong focus of composition in the case of Dove, sometimes placed among the sweeping hills. Similarly, Borg embellished the Irish landscape in its abstract qualities and, like Dove, had to use this for its geometric abstracts containing titles that sometimes reveal their conceptual origins by nature. It extracts these forms into their empirical forms, evoking the quest of American artist Kenneth Noland for pure form.

The use of luggage to convey a concept

Personal belongings are packed in luggage, providing a connection to the point of departure, the place of origin of the journey. The content usually defines the owner of the luggage or backpack, while determining the sex of the traveler, frugality or otherwise in the selection of essential items to be transported to a destination.

Borg was not so encouraged by the content, quite like a cat, she was more interested in the volume of luggage and the hidden possibilities. They stand out as caches, echo-chambers of experiences and impressions.

A trip to the Southern Highway

The curator of this retrospective, Lisa Gwen Baldacchino, remarked intelligently: “Her luggage can look weightless, empty of everything except an image painted inside. Instead, that emptiness remains deep, filled to the brim, not with personal or material effects but with very impressive memories, some nostalgic, others temporary. ”

The people portrayed, even as a self-portrait, evoke a sense of spiritual detachment found in the characters depicted in sacred art. In the words of Baldacchino, “She [Borg] has created a modern day replacement for the iconic portable artwork. It lacks the quintessential gold leaf background and a delicate halo that covers the heads of its figures as objects of worship rather than close examination. ”

The Maltese art-loving public is invited to this retrospective, entitled The Streak, to admire many more streaks of Borg’s artistic output.

The Streak, hosted by Creative Space, runs until 16 January. Log in to the event’s Facebook page for opening hours. COVID-19 restrictions apply.