Reflections on the feminine in Pawlu Mizzi’s Art
Through art, we attempt to understand the world and our place within it. In my work, the female figure takes centre stage in this introspective exploration. My subjects often serve as vessels of transformation and resilience as they embody myth and memory, longing and loss, beauty and corruption. Drawing from personal relationships, my work extends beyond autobiography, tapping into broader analytical narratives and suggesting a dynamic force that disrupts traditional structures of perception. They represent the intersection of idealisation and disillusionment, personal experience, and my quest for universal truth and purpose.
On this Woman’s Day, I reflect on why the feminine remains at the core of my artistic exploration. Women not as muses, but as forces of nature, subjects of my history, and architects of my spiritual journey. My work is a space where I reclaim stories, distort and reshape them, and ask new questions about identity, purpose, resilience and resistance. It moves away from the ideological constraints of patriarchal culture, where women have long been reduced to mere symbols of male imagination and control.
In my world, the feminine embodies a spectrum of roles: mother, lover, muse, warrior, call them icons of promise and disillusionment, each carrying its own narratives and symbolism. These archetypes are not confined to women alone but represent universal aspects of humanity that transcend gender. Psychoanalyst Massimo Recalcati, in Le mani della madre, explores motherhood beyond biological determinism, proposing that the maternal function is a symbolic space that can be occupied by anyone, regardless of gender. He argues that it is not a biological trait but a relational and affective role, one even a man can embody. Recalcati’s insights suggest that qualities traditionally associated with the feminine like nurturing, empathy and creativity, are accessible to all. This perspective heightens my awareness of understanding the feminine not as the woman, but as an intrinsic element within the human condition, and therefore also my own, allowing for a wider exploration in my art.
Engaging with the feminine in my work has evolved into an exercise in self-analysis, a dialogue with the deeper facets of my psyche. The women I portray are not merely external figures, but reflections of my inner world, embodying vulnerability, strength, desire, exaltation, and survival. This process has allowed me to develop my art as a means of exploring the tension between the earthly and the transcendent, between what is visible and what remains hidden.
Throughout history, the female form has been shaped by expectations, reverence, and restriction, transforming it into a contested space. In contrast, my works offer new narratives that challenge these limitations. The women in my art are not passive subjects; they resist, transform, and assert themselves in unexpected ways, reflecting both personal and societal contradictions. They embody myth yet shatter it. The women I depict are not objects to be observed; they engage, watching back.
