An new exhibition, The Art of Becoming, is offering visitors to the Fine Arts Gallery in Casemates an insight to how we grow as people through identity.
Opened on Tuesday evening and curated by Jacqima Rios, an art therapist who also exhibits her own work in the show, the exhibition comprises the works of ten different artists. Ranging from experienced exhibitors to complete newcomers, including the curator’s younger sister, Jayla, who is showing work publicly for the first time.
“I thought it was important for it not to be just about me, but to share the space and also to invite new artists who felt a bit timid or scared,” said Ms Rios.
The result is a mixed-media collection that brings together painting, photography, poetry and interactive installation
Ms Rios describes the exhibition as being “about how art helps us to grow as people,” touching on identity, mental health, and the way art permeates daily life, from music and media to painting and photography.
Several of her own works form part of the exhibition, including one hand-painted, stencil-like piece which at first glance resembles a print, directly rooted in her training and practice as an art therapist.
She explains how working in different sectors, first in the NHS, then with younger clients, forced her to renegotiate how she presented herself.
“Being an art therapist, there’s a certain way that you are supposed to present yourself. But then going into a different sector it was allowing myself to be creative in what I wear, because it was easier for me to connect with younger kids,” she said.
The work is hung deliberately askew, with two of the paintings having overlapping features.
“Not only did it feel kind of like the unknown and like not knowing where I stood, it also felt a bit like jumbled up, messy, a bit to the side,” she explained.
Another large mixed-media piece is being continually altered as she was hanging the exhibition.
“As this was hanging, there wasn’t any of these [pointing to various dots]. I’ve just been coming along each day with a marker and adding more stuff. It’s actually a painting that’s always in progress,” she said.
This ongoing, unfinished piece “captures the title of the exhibition. Like becoming, are we ever truly ever finished as humans?,” she said.
Photography plays a prominent role, much of it featuring Jayla, her recurring muse. One series experiments with lighting, colour and props.
“A lot of the stuff in the exhibition is done in, like, nostalgia – very childlike, very retro colours, bright colours. That’s kind of, like, what I was going for,” she said.
One photograph of a friend is particularly significant to her, given the sitter’s struggle with self-confidence.
“Being able to capture someone in that light and show her that, you know, she’s capable. It’s a very important piece for me to put in the exhibition as well, because she will see it. And I think that’s something that she needs to see as well,” she added.
Another sequence, shot by Jayla, suggests longing and loneliness.
A finger-painted work made jointly by Jacqima and Jayla evokes fragmented childhood and adulthood painted on see-through glass.
“When you touch it, it feels really, really nice as well,” she said, adding that she makes a conscious effort to remain in contact with her inner child, particularly in her therapeutic practice.
“After I left the art therapy school, I made it a point to really stay in touch with my [inner] child, because that helps me stay in touch with my clients,” she said.
She also has an interactive piece that combines a mirror and handwritten affirmations. On the mirror, visitors are met with the message ‘I’m not giving up yet’.
Audience members are invited to add their own statements of hope and intent.
“We’ve had people write their own affirmations, and I think that’s really important to say what you want out into the universe.”
“If you have a positive mind, you’ll have a positive outlook, positive things will come to you. I think this gives people the space to do it,” she said.
The piece is closely tied to her own personal mental health journey and her dual experience as both patient and practitioner in Gibraltar’s system:
“I’ve been on the two sides, and it’s the one thing that pushed me to want to become an art therapist, because it’s like, I see a bit of a flaw in the system. What can I do to change it? And there’s no art therapist in Gibraltar, so I thought, ‘why not?’,” she said.
The exhibition also gives space to other artists’ narratives.
One piece depicts by another artist depicts themselves holding their younger self, the child’s face deliberately blurred as, being transgender, he is no longer the person he was when he was younger.
“That person just doesn’t exist in him anymore. I love the unfinishedness of it as well, because his story is not over yet, and we keep evolving as a person,” she said.
Another first-time exhibitor presents a mixed-media exploration of brain chemistry and identity, reflecting her fascination with how the brain shapes who we are.
Other pieces are digital works that bring a psychedelic, tattoo-ready aesthetic to the show, including portraits of her cat and images suggestive of hallucination and altered states.
A client of Ms Rios contributed a poem that builds in scale and intensity on the page, culminating in the line “I’m sorry. But I’m still bleeding,” a stark reflection on apology and emotional aftermath.
Another painter, who only began painting in recent years but has already won prizes, offers gentle, nostalgic scenes that, in Ms Rios’ words, convey “hope”, “good company” and the quiet reassurance of everyday life.
To see these works and others, visit the Fine Arts Gallery in Casemates until May 22.