The Malta International Contemporary Art Space’s (MICAS) new exhibition A New Life Force will be introducing the island to three painters each gaining international recognition, with a distinct idiom that now takes on a new dimension from a unique Maltese exposure.
Working across incisive visual languages shaped by their diverse cultural backgrounds, the artists Nathanaëlle Herbelin, Kemi Onabulé and Megan Rooney offer a compelling insight into the next generation of women artists redefining contemporary painting today.
Curated by Edith Devaney, MICAS’s Artistic Director, A New Life Force reflects the museum’s commitment to supporting artists at pivotal moments in their careers while fostering new international dialogues around modern and contemporary art.
“For A New Life Force, each artist has created new bodies of work informed in part by visits to Malta, drawing inspiration from the island’s culture, history and geography and grounding the exhibition within its local context,” Edith says.
“All three artists demonstrate a determined focus on their singular modes of expression while maintaining a deep connection to, and engagement with, the history of art. They each share a distinct commitment to painting and to exploring the possibilities of the medium. Individually, each possesses enormous creative energy – and we look forward to seeing this unfold across the walls of MICAS.”
Based in Paris, French-Israeli artist Nathanaëlle Herbelin (b.1989) is celebrated for atmospheric figuration that combines intimacy, memory and psychological depth. Her works, in part inspired by Les Nabis, are deeply imbued with spiritual dimensions, influenced by the devotional ex-voto artefacts found in historic buildings and churches across Malta.
The works respond directly to the dramatic architecture of the lower-ground gallery, which is divided into two distinct spaces, where she presents both larger figurative paintings while a more intimate section will feature smaller, abstracted works.
Occupying the central gallery space, London-based painter Kemi Onabulé (b.1995) draws upon her Greek, English and Nigerian heritage to explore humanity’s relationship with landscape, ecology and collective memory. Her paintings often depict figures inhabiting dreamlike environments poised between harmony and uncertainty, evoking both ancient histories and speculative futures.
As part of her research visits to Malta, she was struck by the island’s vitality and the visible traces of its combative past. The intensity of the landscape, flora and colour palette all informed a powerful new body of work for the exhibition, many of which mark her largest canvases to date.
Canadian artist Megan Rooney (b.1985), who lives and works in London, is known for her large paintings which are generated through an accumulation of gesture and colour, built up and sanded back in a physically demanding process that gives her works a vivid sense of movement and intensity.
Inspired by the luminosity of MICAS’s architecture, she has worked on a larger scale than her usual canvases, creating a series of vibrant new paintings whose layered surfaces are alive with colour, atmosphere and fleeting intimations of nature, filling the floating walls of the ground-floor gallery.
“Together, the three artists in A New Life Force demonstrate the enduring vitality and transformative possibilities of painting today,” the Artistic Director says. “Through deeply personal yet resonant approaches to colour and place, memory and human experience, the exhibition offers a timely reflection on contemporary painting as a site of experimentation, emotion and renewal.”
A New Life Force is open until 31st January 2027 and is accompanied by a fully illustrated publication published by global art specialists Skira, available on sale only at MICAS.
Visit MICAS at Ospizio Complex, Bieb il-Pulverista, Triq Joseph J. Mangion, Floriana. It is closed on Mondays; open Tuesday from noon to 6pm, Wednesday and Thursday 10am to 6pm, Friday and Saturday 10am to 8pm, with free entrance on Sundays from 10am to 6pm, and a free guided tour at 11am.
