Jordan-based artist Deema Shahin is opening her exhibition ‘Home is Where Mom Is’ dealing with the subject of mothers’ postponed dreams in Gozo on the 7th April at the Ministry for Gozo at 11am. The exhibition is being organised by the Valletta 2018 Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry for Gozo and is ongoing till the 28th April.

The exhibition focuses on the dreams of mothers, who generally give up their own dreams in order for their families to achieve theirs. The artist will be exhibiting photographs, a video and texts which she has collected and developed during her stay in Għarb, Gozo, last year where she met a number of community members.

To be a mother, for the artist, is not confined to the female body alone, as even males can also embody this spirit of love and nurturing towards their family, friends and other community members. Shahin’s exhibition stems from her feeling of not belonging to a particular place but to many. To her, the idea of home is connected to her mother, rather than a physical place, which gave rise to this project that looks at the dreams of home, since home is the mother.

As part of her current residency, the artist is conducting workshops with students from Sir M. A. Refalo Sixth Form, asking students to focus on the subject of their dreams and how to translate this into a photograph or a photograph-like output. She will also be carrying similar workshops with the elderly from around Malta and Gozo.

Shahin’s project has travelled to various countries in the past with different participants including Barcelona in Spain, in 2015, Fayoum in Egypt, and Gozo in Malta in 2016.

Deema Shahin’s Gozo artist-in-residence programme is part of the Valletta 2018 and Spazju Kreattiv and also part of the Europe Grand Central project, which Valletta 2018 is collaborating on along with the Roberto Cimetta Fund.