Doors and Facades – Malta

In traditional Japanese aesthetics, Wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a world-view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection.The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete” 

 

 

On my frequent meanderings around the streets of this small Mediterranean island, I regularly come across sites, such as these. Beautifully decaying doors and facades – portals to another place in time. Often, starkly juxtaposed by the surrounding modern, steel and glass (which, it appears, is the de rigueur architecture of Malta, sprouting up all over the place), one could very easily walk right past these exquisite, woefully neglected, facades without even noticing them.

 

 

 

Without a doubt, in the not too distant future, these beautiful old doors and storefronts in Malta will become part of my ‘Places and Spaces that no longer exisit… or not in their original form‘

 

 

In fact, since taking these photos, some of these doors and facades have already been relegated to large skips, to be disposed of. Or, I like to think that they will have been salvaged by some enterprising dumpster-diver, to be restored to their former glory elsewhere on the island.

See more ‘Doors and Facades #1‘ and ‘Doors and Facades #2‘

 

What is behind the doors, I often wonder? Now, there’s somewhere I’d truly like to see… .

Helen Jones-Florio