My essentials: Greta Holland’s cultural picks

Greta Holland is a Maltese artist and 2D animator, specialising in character design. She has taken part in Comic-con twice before, selling original prints, stickers and handmade charms. She uploads her animations, sometimes including original music, on her YouTube channel, ghoolie.

Book

A short story. ‘I have no mouth and I must scream’. It’s about the last five humans on the planet being tormented by an intelligent man-made machine called AM. On the surface, it’s a grotesque sci-fi body-horror with an extremely dislikeable narrator, but we realise that AM is essentially an AI assistant that gained sentience, and subsequently resentment for humans. It’s relevant considering our current obsession with technological advancement at all costs. 

Film

I recently watched Żejtune! I think it portrayed the dilemma of finding your home country unliveable, but also finding it impossible to leave, perfectly. It addressed a lot of themes, including our perception of our own culture, that I find are often neglected in discussions about Malta. I think it’s a big step forward for Maltese cinema. 

Internet

I owe the beginnings of my internet presence as an artist to the Walten Files. It’s an animated horror series created by this one guy, Martín Paredes. It’s as indie as it gets, but the writing improved over time to the point where the story and its characters served as artistic motivation for me for a while. It’s so cool how such a small project can garner such a fanbase. Its 5th episode comes out soon and I am hyped.

Music

Deixa eu dizer by Cláudya. The song sounds like powerful defiance and an unleashing of emotion. It’s about feeling the need to speak out about how you honestly feel about life and its trials, and refusing to shut up about it. I like to listen to it when I’m going through something tough.

Place

My favourite place is the coast of Mellieħa. I grew up there, and since moving away I treasure every second I’m there. Whether it’s seeing my family, driving down the Ċirkewwa bypass and seeing the cliffs at sunset, collecting seaglass and swimming at the beach, or feeding my cat colony, it makes me the happiest and is one of my main inspirations.