Set the scene.
Born Giuseppe Calleja in Valletta in 1898, the artist adopted the name Josef Kalleya in 1950. He helped establish the Modern Art Circle two years later.
Here’s the twist.
He made sculptures in plasticine, photographed them, then sometimes destroyed them to reuse the material. A photograph could therefore preserve a work that no longer existed physically.
Why it still matters.
Dante’s writing later inspired more than a thousand works. Try the problem yourself: how could a sculptor suggest a literary journey through bodies, movement and space?
🧠 One to think about +
What does this story change about the way you see Malta today? Pick one detail you’d tell a friend — then check its source below.