Christopher Saliba (b.1975) studied Art Education at the University of Malta and qualified as an Art teacher in 1996. In 1997 Saliba won a four-year scholarship to the Accademia di Belle Arti Pietro Vannucci in Perugia where he read for a Masters Degree in Fine Arts. The main areas of specialisation were abstract painting, sculpture, etching and photography.
Between 1998 and 2001 Saliba participated in various projects organised by the Accademia. Throughout this period he displayed abstract murals, site-specific works and video installations. In 2001 Saliba submitted his dissertation - La Poetica del Sublime. On his return to Malta he started to focus mainly on expressing symbolically the spatial and psychological limits affecting islanders. Surpassing boundaries and looking beyond the horizon are themes that recur regularly in Saliba's ouvre. Typical examples are In-finite (1999), one of his earliest site-specific works and Transcending the Ordinary - a project started in 2004 consisting mainly of documented outdoor interventions. The idea of transcending the boundaries of enclosed physical spaces develops once again in Defining Confines (2008), an installation consisting of a series of abstract drypoint etchings. In his animated video Virtual Confinement (2008), Saliba questions the advancement of technology and its influence on the emotional aspect of human life. In 2010 Saliba embarked on an experimental project titled Ageing Mirrors, which started as a series of 'existential' photographic works, but developed in part as a socio-political commentary. This project is still ongoing.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
October 2004, Transcending the Ordinary, Banca Giuratale, Victoria, Gozo.
October 2006, Of Time and Timelessness, St.James Cavalier Centre for Creativity, Valletta.
November 2007, Roots of an Island, The National Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta.
July 2008, Defining Confines, Le Meridien, St.Julians.
December 2008, Virtual Confinement (video installation), St. James Cavalier Centre for Creativity, Valletta.
October 2009, Time Frames 1880 - 2009 (video installation), The Cabinet Room, Auberge de Castille, Valletta.
April 2010, Introspections, Auberge d'Italie, Valletta.
SELECTED COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS
April 1998, Pruriti (installations), L'Atelier, Via dell' Aquila, Perugia.
June 1999, Caratteri 1999 (installations), Sant' Andrea d'Agliano, Perugia.
June 2000, Caratteri della Memoria (installations), Parco Santa Margherita, Perugia.
March 2001, Estasi (paintings), Galleria Fabbricato d'Italia, Perugia.
May 2001, Gener-azioni, Accademia di Belle Arti, Pietro Vannucci, Perugia.
September 2003, Malta Day (paintings), St. Columba's Church Hall, Pont Street, London.
June 2007, Malta International (105 nations) Art Biennale, Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta.
July 2007, Tribute to Malta, Centre Culturel Christiane Peugeot, Paris.
October 2007, Reprocessed (installations), Upper Barrakka Gardens, Valletta.
November 2008, Itinera 2: collective exhibition by artists who studied in Italy, Italian Cultural Institute, Valletta.
November 2014, Selfie: an exhibition of self-portraits, Studio 104, Valletta.
November 2015, CARAVAN's Mediterranean Peace Donkeys, the Mdina Cathedral Art Biennale.
February 2017, Fondazzjoni Kreattivita' Collection, Spazju Kreattiv, St. James Cavalier Centre for Creativity, Valletta.
June 2017, Memorie del Presente e del Passato, Auditorium, curated by Vittorio Sgarbi, Narni.
March 2023, The Order of Malta National Art Exhibition, St John’s Cavalier, Valletta.
