I feel this piece is one of the most straightforward pieces to interpret out of the collection. Who has never struggled with choosing between what we know would be better for us versus what we want? In the year after my mum’s death, my life felt like a plate spinning act during an earthquake. I felt that the moment something slipped past me, which they often did, it would create one more mess for me to deal with.

There can be a massive struggle between logic and emotion. Growing up, I watched my parents’ bafflement at each other because one leaned more towards the logical, while the towards emotion. I, in turn, embody both of them, and their inherent struggle.

“Bilanċ”, or Balance, continues many motifs of Epokaliss such as the iron crown and hollowed face, but where it does break is in the background. This work is the only one where the patterned tile backdrop warps. Decorative encaustic tiles are foundational to the Maltese aesthetic – it is sadly, a dying trade although I have noticed a recent resurgence of interest. To me, they represent a happy place, going to my nanna’s where everything was magical and vaguely glamorous. The warping conveys the distortion of reality I experienced moving into my grandparent’s old house. The place was once a sanctuary for me, but now, just like my childhood home, it’s haunted by the striking absence of the characters who gave the space life.