Local artist Lisa Cassar launches debut solo exhibition

Local artist Lisa Cassar launched her debut solo exhibition, where I go to breathe, at Camilleri Paris Mode in Rabat, unveiling a collection of works shaped by her pursuit of calm and restoration.

The exhibition brings together a series of ‘naturescapes’, intimate and vibrant works that chart her return to the natural world at moments when she felt most in need of grounding.

Using saturated colour and fluid brushwork, Cassar’s work evokes both movement and stillness, each one inspired by a place that has contributed to her healing journey after a period of turbulent events.

Rather than broad horizons or sweeping vistas, Cassar turns her attention to the often-overlooked details of the outdoors: the layered greens of clustered leaves, the shifting geometry of branches, the play of dappled light across dense undergrowth. These close-up studies of local trees, plants, and tangled foliage blur the boundary between realism and abstraction. Leaves dissolve into patterns; branches form rhythmic structures; colour moves in pulses rather than planes.

Tangled by Lisa Cassar

In a time when nature feels increasingly fragile, she feels compelled to pull it closer, to rebuild on canvas the sense of safety it offers her.

The effect is immersive. Standing before each canvas, the viewer feels pulled into a fragment of nature that is at once familiar and strangely expansive, a reminder that even the smallest corner of the natural world contains complexity, shelter, and quiet.

The exhibition emerged from Cassar’s efforts to rebuild her sense of stability amidst a season of trials. In turning to nature, she found that focusing on its intimate forms - the curve of a leaf, the repetition of patterns, the way light filters through branches - offered a kind of meditation. Painting those forms became an extension of that healing.

where I go to breathe offers viewers that same release: a moment to slow down, look closely, and find peace in the intricate forms of the natural world.

The exhibition opened on 29 November and will be on view at Camilleri Paris Mode, Rabat, during the month of December.

The event is sponsored by King Shoe Shop, VeeGeeBee Malta and Gauci Borda. Find the artist on Instagram @imostlypaintmykids to follow her journey.