'Hello, I'm the boy who lives in the painting'

The painting Maltese Folk Characters, by Giorgio Preca, has been translated into words to be enjoyed by people who are visually impaired.

“Hello there. I’m the boy living in the painting in front of you… a long time ago, in 1954, an artist named Giorgio Preca used oil paint to create this artwork and I’ve been living in it ever since. The size of the painting is comparable to a desk you might know from school,” reads the script of the audio translation for children that will be voice recorded and made available to visitors at MUŻA, the National Community Art Museum, where the painting is exhibited.

“I’m not alone in the painting, don’t worry, my grandfather and our donkey are with me. We are sitting on a cart in the middle of a bumpy road surrounded by some fields in Malta.

“The artist drew many simple black outlines and coloured it with a lot of paint but he still left most of the background unpainted. Maybe he forgot,” the translation reads as it gives a sense of the expressionist oil on canvas.

“Hello there. I’m the boy living in the painting in front of you… a long time ago, in 1954, an artist named Giorgio Preca used oil paint to create this artwork and I’ve been living in...