Valletta 2018 is proudly collaborating with the Roberto Cimetta Fund on the Europe Grand Central, a collaboration between 10 cultural organisations and operators which seek to promote transborder mobility. The aim of this collaboration is to develop inclusive statements on diversity and ultimately pave the way for global movement of connected human values by focusing on the human act of crossing borders.

Following an open call by the Roberto Cimetta Fund, inviting Arab artists to submit proposals under the theme of BORDERS, two artists were selected to come to Malta for an artistic residency, these being: Jordanian filmmaker and photographer Deema Shahin and Egyptian filmmaker, photographer and curator Paul Geday.

Deema’s work on borders focuses on the notion of emotional belonging as opposed to geographical belonging by looking at the definition of ‘home’. Her project ‘Home is where Mom is’ will investigate this concept by linking it to motherhood. Interested in cities rather than national territories and in continuation with a similar work developed in Amman, Barcelona and Fayoum, she will engage this time with the mothers of Gozo in Malta to film their realities and bring out their intimate dreams.

Paul’s work often revolves around individual and collective memories captured through the usage of diverse filmic or photographic archival materials and oral histories. He is interested in exploring Maltese emigration to Egypt in the 19th and 20th century as a background to the current opposite flux and part of the long multiple exchanges between the shores of the Mediterranean. The outcome of this project will be a chapter in his ongoing research ‘Take me back to Cairo!’ which explores plurality and diversity through vernacular photography in 1950’s Cairo. He will be working in the Valletta archives in Malta.

As part of Valletta 2018’s ongoing collaboration with Roberto Cimetta Fund, a call for artists interested in travel grants is currently open.