Maltese artist Rebecca Bonaci is preparing to launch her highly anticipated solo exhibition titled "Wens: Comfortable Silence" at Valletta Contemporary Gallery. The exhibition will run from September 19th through October 17th, offering visitors an intimate exploration of everyday life's profound potential through the quiet rhythms of love and connection that unfold behind closed doors.
Drawing deeply from her personal experiences, Bonaci employs a diverse range of artistic mediums including painting, drawing, and sculpture to reveal how life's most meaningful moments often emerge from the smallest instances. Her work demonstrates that silence should not be interpreted as emptiness, but rather as a meaningful space filled with connection, cherished memories, and a deep sense of belonging.
The exhibition's title draws its meaning from Joseph Aquilina's Maltese-English Dictionary, where "wens" is defined as the peaceful state of mind one experiences while in the company of someone special. Through this lens, Bonaci turns her artistic gaze inward, celebrating and documenting the small circle of loved ones who provide nourishment to her soul. Her distinctive painterly language employs loose, vibrant colors that add a bodily energy to images depicting a dreamlike world where men, women, and children coexist harmoniously among stars, flowers, and clouds.
In an era where productivity takes precedence over nearly everything else, Bonaci's deliberate choice to portray moments of intimacy that exist purely for their own sake becomes a quietly revolutionary act. As she describes it, her work offers "a moment of stillness in a fast-moving world." Her artistic philosophy suggests that true fulfillment does not arise through ego-driven self-construction, but rather through generous giving, complete relationality, and genuine awareness of others.
"Wens: Comfortable Silence" serves as a companion piece to Bonaci's 2023 solo exhibition "Ġuf," sharing not only stylistic similarities but also a deep exploration of embodied personhood, particularly as it relates to female experience. Both exhibitions are threaded together by themes of heritage and connection to ancestral and societal foundations, with the preservation of memory becoming a consistent element throughout Bonaci's artistic journey. Her work suggests that true belonging becomes possible only when we acknowledge the shared landscape of collective remembrance that supports us all.
Bonaci's imagery carries a dreamlike quality filled with longing and desire. While drawn from authentic inner experiences, her work expresses an imaginary state of wholeness and maintains a utopian vision of a world where complete harmony between self and others, family and nature, becomes achievable. Her figures appear predominantly nude, yet they exist without discomfort or shame because the landscapes, seas, and clouds among which they float remain free from judgmental observation.
Through "Wens," Bonaci invites viewers into her tactile, silent, and gentle world. Her work contains a dual energy that acknowledges both the inevitability of worldly change and loss while simultaneously offering a promise that by looking inward, slowing down, and focusing on precious moments with loved ones, existential anxiety can be transformed into a deeper sense of self rooted in connection with others.
Reflecting on her artistic process, Bonaci shares her hopes for the lasting impact of her work: "I hope that one day, when I look back at my drawings, they'll wrap my heart in the same comfort I felt while creating them." This sentiment reveals her underlying hope that the same sense of solace might reach viewers as they enter her tender, utopian artistic world.
The exhibition will officially open with a public reception on September 19th beginning at 7:30 PM at Valletta Contemporary Gallery. The opening event welcomes all members of the general public, and refreshments will be provided throughout the evening.
