“I Took the Rock with Me” is a solo exhibition by Neal Camilleri and explores what we carry with us when we leave a place behind—not only objects and memories, but also weight, texture, and the quiet emotional forms that remain within us.
Camilleri is a Maltese-born contemporary ceramics and sculptural artist whose work explores memory, emotional landscapes, and the quiet stories embedded in materials. Working between London and Malta, he creates pieces that connect past and present, informed by personal experience, cultural heritage, and the architectural rhythms of the places that have shaped him.
“Malta is the rock that inevitably came with me. Not as something I chose to carry, but as something that is deeply part of who I am,” Camilleri wrote in a statement.
His practice spans ceramics, painting, and experimental mixed media sculpture. Neal often begins with everyday conversations or observations, bringing those emotional fragments into the studio and “playing” with the materials before him. Ceramic remains his primary medium, as clay enables instinctive expression. For larger-scale works, he uses durable materials such as wood, resin, or metal to achieve both size and structural presence. Colour is central to his process, shaping atmosphere and emotional tone.
A graduate of Central Saint Martins, Neal has exhibited across London, completed a six-month residency at the Kiln Room, and continues to develop new work for commissions and forthcoming exhibitions. He has also founded creative businesses in London and Manchester, providing studio space and clay workshops.
Guided by curiosity and an evolving sense of place, Neal’s work aims to connect people to memory, isolation, materiality, and the subtle poetry of everyday life.
The new body of work brings together ceramic sculpture and painting on canvas, building on Camilleri’s earlier exploration of childhood in Malta. After living in London for nine years, the work also reflects on how home can continue to exist within us as an unseen force. The rock emerges as a symbol of home and identity, shaped by time and experience.
Working with fragments and memories, Camilleri links one element to another, using surface and colour to express his inner emotional landscape. His practice conveys a sense of holding on, acknowledging both fragility and permanence. Some pieces feel grounded and heavy, almost immovable, while others appear suspended or unfinished, echoing the simultaneous stability and changeability of identity.
The exhibition charts the inner terrain of an artist who has left home but never fully let go. As Camilleri explains: “Malta is the rock that inevitably came with me. Not as something I chose to carry, but as something that is deeply part of who I am.”
The exhibition will be available for viewing between 18th February and 3rd April at Marie Gallery 5 at The Centre, Tigne in Sliema.
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