INTERPRETATION EDITOR
EXPERIENCE /
SELECTED PROJECTS
PROJECT OVERVIEW:
The Myth of Abundance is an ongoing research project on the history of water extraction and management on the islands of Malta. Conceived as an evolving project that will unfold in different expressions of writing, installations and design provocations, its first iteration was as an interactive installation for Malta's 2024 designWeek.
The premise of the project's research is to explore the paradox between Malta's native water scarcity and its perceived abundance – the murkiness around its sourcing, management and distribution. In its varied formats, The Myth of Abundance questions the veneer of surplus, which has been deliberately created by governing parties, and which exists while feeding environmental neglect.
INTERPRETATION STRATEGY:
In line with the theme of the project's research – truth vs. myth – the idea for the designWeek installation was to populate a 'cabinet of curiosities' with objects that fed either of the two polarities. The interpretation strategy also played on the duality of fiction and fact. It invited audiences to build their own version of the truth, encouraging a personalised re-categorisation of the objects and their associated meanings.
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CONCEPT
A timber 'cabinet of curiosities' holding a selection of totems connected with the abundance of water on the islands of Malta.
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CENTRAL TEXT
A curatorial text told the history of both native and artificial water harvesting and distribution. It highlighted the diverse, often covert agendas of Malta's interventionist water systems.
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TRANSLATION
The text was broken down across the cabinet into digestible reading material, including postcards that visitors could take away.
THE MYTH OF ABUNDANCE
2024
ROLE: WRITING, EDITING, CURATION
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OUTREACH
Online, the theme of duality was emphasised visually, juxtaposing the sheer force of volume of human-made water systems, with the natural speed of water as it disseminates.
ACCESSIBILITY
The creation of a personal Truth or Myth card strengthened the idea of 'factual relativity'. The card offered one explanation for each object. Visitors could each decide which explanations were true to them, and which they felt were lies.
TAKEAWAY
The interpretation strategy for the Myth of Abundance explored a notion of non-static transfer of ideas. It asked audiences to input their own small-scale curatorial contribution, each in turn shaping the evolving definition of truth.
PROJECT OVERVIEW:
Valletta Accra was a travelling research project that took the form of two field-study trips, a photographic exhibition, and a book. The research examined two capitals across two continents – Accra, the capital of Ghana on the Guinea Coast of West Africa, and Valletta, the capital of Malta, an island in the Mediterranean – each holding memory of colonial rule.
The research surveyed the architectural heritage of both cities, where buildings and spaces became a transcript of the urban, social and economic life of two harbour regions. The project, in its varied formats, position the cities' comparison as a departure point for a critical reading of colonial and post-colonial experience.
INTERPRETATION STRATEGY:
The project lasted several months and, being interdisciplinary, did not have a permanent home. Therefore its interpretation strategy focused strongly on dissemination online – sharing key observations through visually rich video stories. The content was largely made up of a recorded exchange of oral histories – accounts and insights that were recorded as conversations on site during the project's field trips. The interpretation approach was to build credible authenticity, making audiences feel as though they had real proximity to the worlds inside these two cities.
1.
CONCEPT
Using comparative research studies to draw out new findings around the colonial histories of two distant harbour cities.
2.
CENTRAL TEXT
The text for this project comprised of four long-form research essays that appeared in a culminating book, launched in Accra in April 2024. An introductory essay outlined pictorially the timeline of the two cities'developing built heritage from as early at the 16th century.
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TRANSLATION
The messages that eventually formed the central arguments of the essays stemmed from the observations on-site, gathered through a psychogeographical methodology of exploration. These were recorded in real time.
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OUTREACH
Excerpts of the conversations were overload onto videos shot during the field-trips, and shared as regular mini-episodes on social media.
VALLETTA ACCRA
2023-24
ROLE: WRITING, EDITING, CURATION
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ACCESSIBILITY
In parallel with the story of Valletta Accra unfolding online, the project also organised a series of in-person lectures with community members and students.
TAKEAWAY
The project's interpretation strategy reflected the interdisciplinarity of the research itself. Its strength was built on strong visuals and the offering of a nuanced look into the reality of two parallel urban histories.
PROJECT OVERVIEW:
GĦALLIS was a small-scale exhibition held in Venice during the 2023 Architecture Bienale, highlighting Malta's need for retrofit in heritage conservation. The exhibition showcased a retrofit design for a coastal watchtower located along the north-eastern shore of Malta called Torri tal-Għallis, built in 1658. Its contemporary retrofit design was designed as nine new architectural elements that inserted into the tower as temporary and flexible elements. The elements fell into three groups: primary, auxiliary and connecting, all of which were designed to be lightweight, translucent, and illuminable.
The content for the GĦALLIS exhibition explored the de-programming of architecture and how historic structures might be creatively adapted towards broader functionality and use.
INTERPRETATION STRATEGY:
GĦALLIS took an architectural subject and translated into a sculptural exhibition. Its design was fragmented: broken down into nine marble sculptures, extruded into a row of floating pink objects. Its interpretation strategy was to pull focus onto the timelessness of these elements. Explanatory descriptions were then written for each element, explained within a custom- designed set of overlapping cards that visitors could flick through and then take away.
1.
CONCEPT
Demonstrating the potential for torment historic structures to accommodate new relevance and use.
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CENTRAL TEXT
The exhibition's main text gave a brief explanation of the tower's history and eventual abandonment. It then explained the approach to the intervention: the idea of breaking down the tower's new interior into nine removable elements.
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TRANSLATION
The elements were translated into individual sculptural objects. Each had their own written description explaining what they were and how they could be used.
GĦALLIS
2023
ROLE: WRITING, DESIGN, CURATION
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OUTREACH
A series of online stories were produced to accompany the content exhibiting in Venice. Their aim was to conjure intrigue around the tower and its new elements. The tone was purposefully abstracted, reflecting the flexible, untethered nature of the uses being newly introduced.
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ACCESSIBILITY
The set of explanatory cards were designed to sit in a translucent sleeve that overlaid the three groupings of elements. This was custom designed, cut and assembled.
TAKEAWAY
The project's interpretation strategy was experimental and looked to reflect the adaptability of the architectural proposal itself. Its tone mingled abstraction with direct information, echoing the central theme of transience versus permanence.
