Scottish artist Susan Philipsz, in Malta for a major Valletta 2018 project, laid a candle at the makeshift memorial to assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in front of the law courts today.

Philipsz, a Turner Prize-winning artist, has installed a sound installation inside the underground cisterns in Valletta as part of the Dal-Baħar Madwarha visual arts exhibition that will open to the public tomorrow. 

The project will see the temporary opening of three of Valletta’s hidden gems – the majestic cisterns underneath the law courts, the old fish market at Barriera Wharf and the old examinations centre at Fort St Elmo. 

However, the first part of the project proved controversial amongst people demanding political responsibility for Caruana Galizia’s murder, who argued that the barrier surrounding the stairway into the cistern was intentionally set up to block the view of the memorial. The Valletta 2018 Foundation has explained that the hole had to be enclosed for safety reasons.

Valletta 2018 chairman Jason Micallef, a strong critic of the makeshift memorial, launched the Dal-Bahar Madwarha project outside the law courts today – along with Susan Philipsz and Ghanian artist Ibrahim Mahama, who has designed a project at the old fish market. The barrier to the descent allowed Micallef to be filmed without any sign of the Caruana Galizia memorial. 

However, activists from protest group Occupy Justice turned up in force to the site – placing fresh flowers and candles on the memorial and watching Micallef’s press conference. Activists from Il-Kenniesa had turned up earlier to place flowers and candles on the site, and activists from both groups took to Twitter to warn Susan Philipsz that the government was “using” her art installation to cover the memorial and “suffocate” freedom of expression. 

And the pressure certainly paid off, as Philipsz placed a candle at the memorial right after completing the tour of the Valletta 2018 project. 

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]