Visually-impaired artist publishes book

Visually-impaired artist Maria Elich has launched the book The Art Beyond Light Project, through which blind artists have expressed their imagination through art.

Featuring a collection of evocative paintings, the book celebrates the talent of visually-impaired artists and their daily mission to surmount what Elich describes as the “darkness ambient” around them.

Elich, founder of the Art Beyond Light Project, which supports and encourages blind artists through various initiatives, enjoys painting in the outdoors and making use of the vivid colours she remembers before she went blind at the age of 12.

“Our darkness roots and their meaningful dynamics, explicit in our own Maltese Blind Art Collection, will hopefully serve to enhance local art collections in joyfulness and love,” Elich says.

To celebrate the launch of the book, Elich, who has worked at Malta Freeport Terminals for the past 28 years and whose initiatives receive support from the company, presented a copy as well as a painting depicting how she perceives the facility at night to Freeport CEO Alex Montebello and HR director Duncan Borg Myatt.

Montebello said: “Maria’s drive, determination and talent are a constant inspiration to all of us and we are proud to count her as one of our colleagues. I encourage everyone to see for themselves the creativity that is in this book.”

The artist is also general secretary of the voluntary organisation Visual and Non-Visual Network which aims to attract sighted and non-sighted people to the arts in order to promote a healthier environment and a more inclusive society.

“United by creativity, apprentices and experts come together to explore possibilities where art and nature align, as a way of connecting our reality with a universal understanding of the diversity of our existence,” Elich concluded.