Let's Dance Print

Artist Bio: Alexandra Aquilina (b. 1987) is a screen printer and creative from Malta. She moved to Berlin in 2015. She graduated in Psychology at the University of Malta while undertaking studies in Fashion and Costume design at the Malta Society of Arts, Manzoni Fashion School and Malta Drama Centre, before focusing on Graphic Design at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology where she graduated in 2011. It was during her studies that she was introduced to screen printing, a technique that she taught herself through books and trial and error and later at Print Club, London. Today her profession is that of a screen printer and creative. In the last years, she has been shifting her artistic trajectory from primarily commercial art to fine art, honing her own style, aesthetic and taste to expressing her inner observations. She also is the creator of the three times funded Moon Crystal Tarot - a fully illustrated tarot deck inspired by Sailor Moon and based on A. E. Waite imagery. She also offers screen-printing workshops for beginners. She worked very closely with the Maltese and Berlin music, art and activist scenes having also been in a number of bands and choirs as well as leading the Berlin-Malta Women’s Rights Solidarity group. Artist Statement: I am a silkscreen printer and creative from Malta and based in Berlin, Germany. My work is very much concept-driven and is inspired by my traditional Maltese upbringing. Malta is a small devoutly Catholic Mediterranean island with a strong patriarchal structure. It has a rich multi-cultural history, but its present society is in favour of financial gain over integration, preservation and empathy. As an artist, I explore the various dichotomies observed as a young woman growing up in such an environment and try to make sense these contradictory elements, by looking at them through a modern lens, re-organising them into a different but meaningful pattern, merging them with Gen X nostalgia, feminist iconography and Maltese imagery. I start off an idea with research and sketches, strengthening my concept by compiling images and notes before working on the actual image. The images are finalised digitally and a selection of them go on to be printed by hand. This process then involves converting the image for silk screen print and experimenting with inks and colours thus giving the artwork a new life and appearance apart from being more organic and tactile.