I Took the Rock With Me, a solo exhibition by Neal Camilleri, explores what we carry when we leave a place behind - not just objects and memories, but weight, texture, and the subtle emotional shapes that endure within us.
I Took the Rock With Me, a solo exhibition by Neal Camilleri, explores what we carry when we leave a place behind - not just objects and memories, but weight, texture, and the subtle emotional shapes that endure within us.
This new body of work encompasses ceramic sculpture and painting on canvas. It builds on Camilleri’s previous investigation of childhood in Malta but, after living in London for 9 years, also considers how one’s home can remain within as an invisible force. The rock becomes a symbol of home, identity, and everything shaped by time.
Camilleri works with fragments and memories, connecting one to another to reflect his inner emotions through surface and colour. His work expresses a sense of holding on and contains an outlook that acknowledges both permanence and fragility. Some works are grounded and heavy, seemingly immovable, while others feel suspended or incomplete, reflecting the permanence and changeability of identity.
The exhibition maps the inner landscape of an artist who has left home, but has never truly let go. In his own words: “Malta is the rock that inevitably came with me. Not as something I chose to carry, but as something that is deeply part of who I am.”