Bil-Mixi Ġejt: The Life and Times of il-Bambinu is an exhibition illuminating the world of the late Mikiel Abela. More popularly known as il-Bambinu, he was one of Malta's most prolific għannejja, known chiefly for his makkjetti and folk ballads. The title is inspired by a line from an improvised verse he famously sang during a performance held in honour of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in the late 1970s. Ever the quick-witted balladeer, he cheekily appealed to the dictator:
Sur Gaddafi tħobb lil Malta

Jien miż-Żejtun bil-mixi ġejt

Nitolbok biex tagħdirna

U fittex raħsilna ż-żejt.

Mr. Gaddafi, You love Malta

I have walked all the way from Żejtun

To implore you to empathize with us

Spare no time in reducing the price of your petrol

The stanza encapsulates Il-Bambinu: a man from a humble background, proud of his nation and who, like all great għannejja, did not shy away from challenging authority.
Audio recordings, film, photography and ephemera expose audiences to Il-Bambinu's music. This exhibition speaks to the significance of his style and storytelling qualities, placing his figure in the social and cultural context of his time. Il-Bambinu's work is firmly rooted in the soil of his homeland. The collection highlights the context in which his work was created, offering audiences a gateway to a Malta that no longer exists. This event aims to build knowledge and appreciation for one of our most beloved folk musicians. It also seeks to highlight Malta's musical traditions and allow future generations the opportunity to access their cultural heritage.

The project is in collaboration with the Magna Żmien Foundation. Images and sound are courtesy of the Magna Żmien Foundation and are sourced from the Ġuża Mifsud Collection.

Curated By: Charlie Cauchi as part of Ritmu Festival.

Katya elicited conflicting feelings from those closest to her, but everyone who knew Katya Saunders agrees on one point – she was a woman who lived her own truth, no matter what.

Juts over three years after her passing, MGRM celebrated Katya’s life with an exhibition that highlights the different facets of one of the first transgender women who broke boundaries in terms of sexual diversity and inclusion in Malta.

Complemented by the launch of her official biography, penned by Ramona Depares, the catalogue of photographs, clothes and memorabilia showcased in this exhibition will take us on a journey to get to know the real Katya.

She Said Darling with a K, 17 December 2022 - 22 January 2023, 
Space A, Spazju Kreattiv, St James Cavalier, Castille Place
Valletta, Malta . Curated by Charlie Cauchi and Romeo Roxman Gatt.

The peep show booth is something of a relic of the past. It is often associated with night life
in metropolitan areas. Charlie Cauchi transports us to 1960s Soho, using the intimate form
of address associated with the peep show. She provides the “patron” with a motion picture
viewing experience – this time it is free of charge. Offering a peep behind the curtain, she
explores notions of agency, alliance, and reliance in relation to the female body.

In Lady Jane’$, Charlie weaves together archival footage of strippers attempting to unionize, with a
recent interview with her uncle, who ran a clip joint for a brief period when first moving to
London at the end of the 60s.

In Tender Loving Care, women are at the service of men, in more ways than one.

Sunset Strip hangs above: a ghostly sartorial reminder of these lusty ladies.

The work forms part of Cauchi’s wider Soho project. Her documentary film Of Vice and Men
is currently in production. They were shown as part of The Ordinary Lives of Women, Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta. Curated by Elise Billiard Pisani and Margerita Pule.

drago is a play inspired by the life of the legendary Maltese professional snooker and pool player Tony Drago, better known within his own snooker circles as Tornado Tony. Known for his speed around the table, he’s won two professional titles: the 1993 Strachan Challenge Event 3 and the 1996 Guangzhou Masters.

His combination of exceptionally fast play and emotional temperament have made Tony a popular character in the snooker world.

This biographical work will be penned by writer André Mangion, and will focus on the life of the fiery Drago who’s been known to throw around the occasional cue or two. All bets are off for this production.

Writing: André Mangion
Direction and concept: Sean Buhagiar
Art and Audiovisual Direction: Charlie Cauchi
Sound and Video Installation Design: Niels Plotard
Light Design: Andrew Schembri (Late Interactive)
Hair and Make-up Design: Jackie Grima

Malta’s transgender community has been underrepresented in the media, particularly Maltese trans men. 

This documentary project portrays the male trans experience through the real lived experiences of one of my dearest friends and a truly great artist: Romeo Roxman Gatt.

Romeo is in the early stages of his transition journey. This work documents this important moment in his life.

Filmed on a roof overlooking a large construction site, BIGILLA layers audio fragments from various media sources with scenes of construction and consumption. Inspired by Sonia Andrade's video Untitled [Beans] from 1975, the artists question their role, identity and position in contemporary Malta, the island they both immigrated to a while ago.

The work echoes their struggles with a home that is increasingly colonized by money and dominated by identity politics, leaving them less and less room to fit in or being heard.

Shown as part of No Ordinary Terrain (Sandra Zaffarese, Aaron Bezzina, Tom Van Malderen, Keit Bonnici), Muza. Valletta, 2021 and  Debatable (Is)land __(s), collective exhibition, Casa Stivala, Kalkara, Malta (2021).

Part of the biannual Pageants of the Seas, Il-Mappa was a one-time audio-visual installation using 60 sailing boats and set in Valletta’s Grand Harbour. Under the Artistic Direction of Chris Baldwin, Il-Mappa focused on the lived experience of Valletta residents and artisans working in the city, particularly work tied to hands, such as guilders, engineers, silversmiths and bell ringers.

---

Projections by visual artist Charlie Cauchi and coordinated and lit by Petko Tanchev. Motion graphic design: Andres Algeciras. Music composed by Andrew Alamango. The show, produced and commissioned by Valletta Cultural Agency

Welcome to 1970s Soho. Welcome to the Scheherazade nightclub where everything is for sale. Step right up for an evening of debauchery, of beauty, of brutality and an introduction to a Maltese criminal underworld that makes bank from bodies.

A solo show at Valletta Contemporary, artist Charlie Cauchi drew from the histories of a violent episode in London’s club scene, where Maltese vice bosses laid on entertainment for party-goers that came at a high price for those entangled in its production.

As a London-born woman of Maltese descent, Cauchi has woven stories of Maltese migration and the role of female protagonists in a male world of organised crime into a number of previous works, but Scheherazade represents the largest scale examination of this to date.

A large volume fills a courtyard. You may walk around or enter inside. There is a looped video work; a conversation to join, and there are people to meet. Sempre Viva was a three-screen projection of archival material and documentary footage shot in the homes, clubs, workplaces, and neighbourhoods of an inter-generational Maltese diaspora across the UK, the USA and Canada.

This site-specific work formed part of my ongoing Latitude 36 project. Sempre Viva continued the trans-media journey, collecting and disseminating stories of identity, migration and belonging through a collaborative artistic practice.  Revealing both personal and collective narratives, Sempre Viva travelled the globe seeking tales of what it means to leave home.

The findings are broad, and the exchange is informal. Stand, or sit; join for as little or as long as you wish. Sempre Viva was commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malta. A version of the work has been acquired by  Malta’s national community gallery MUZA in 2019.

Part exhibition, part installation, Latitude 36 consisted of a mixture of visual art practices to examine a few past and present Maltese migration stories.

Arranged around the architecture of the ‘townhouse’ structure that is Blitz, Latitude 36 appropriated each room in the gallery to tell a different story.

The work shifted focus onto the Maltese immigration experience from a Maltese standpoint.

Award-winning performance art duo Sh!t Theatre created a new work for Latitude 36.   The duo visited Malta in May to research and develop their brand new show Sh!t Theatre Drink Rum With Expats.

Celebrating their final year as Europeans, island-monkeys Becca and Louise wanted to talk about home, your home, what we are doing in your home, what you might be doing in your home and how cheap the beers are here. They conducted their R&D at The Pub, Valletta from May 28th to June 3rd and dig deeper into coming and going: who exactly should come and who gets to go. 

Using their unique investigative powers, a final scratch performance was created and shown in Malta in October 2018.

Foxy and Husk collaborated on a commissioned project to make a new piece of work for Latitude 36.

Foxy and Husk is a playful performance artist who likes to sing, dance and hibernate.  A lip-synch artist, Foxy and Husk is currently working with the Maltese diaspora in the UK and British diaspora in Malta to create a new audio-visual work entitled ‘Island Fox’.

Half human, half animal, Foxy creates full length shows, interactive installations, short films and cabaret turns. Her work is rooted in social research, she collects stories from members of the public, edits, overlaps and then re-presents them through her unique style of lip-sync.

ROSANA CADE: 'WALKING: HOLDING'

Playwright and performer Nick Cassenbaum describes a trip to the shvitz in Canning Town with his granddad.

He intersperses this account with tales of growing up in a family of Essex Jews, going to see Tottenham Hotspur with his dad (and not enjoying himself much), and attending Jewish summer camp

The autobiographical material is accompanied by live klezmer music, performed by Dan Gouly and Josh Middleton.