Joseph Agius: ‘If I wasn’t a ceramist, I would have liked to be a farmer’

Joseph Agius, a senior staff nurse at Mater Dei’s FairyLand ward for the past 30 years, started out as a hobbyist in ceramic sculpture and is now established as one of Malta’s foremost ceramists. Agius’s solo exhibition C’est La Vie, is currently being exhibited at il-Kamra ta’ Fuq, in Mqabba, featuring works in ceramics, tackling various aspects of our daily lives.

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

Drink coffee.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Not to ponder too much about questions that have no answer.

What do you never leave the house without?

Chocolate.

Pick three words that describe yourself

Harmless, pensive, creative.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

Brainstorming of ideas from simple things and create art.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Watching Peter Griffin in Family Guy.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

Not to take people for granted.

Property and cars aside what’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought?

A ceramics artwork by Gabriel Caruana.

What is one thing you wish you knew when you were younger?

To play a wind instrument, ideally a saxophone.

Who’s your inspiration?

Henry Moore.

What has been your biggest challenge?

To learn how to paint.

If you weren’t an artist, what would you be doing?      

If I wasn’t a ceramist, I would have liked to be a farmer.

Do you believe in God?

Yes.

If you could have dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would it be?

With my deceased father.

What’s your worst habit?

Sleeping in front of my television.

What are you like when you’re drunk?

A stupid person.

Who would you have play you in a film?

Clint Eastwood.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Arrogance.

What music would you have played at your funeral?

‘Ic-Cimiterju’ by Il-Brodu.

What is your most treasured material possession?

A gift I once received from a friend of mine.

What is your earliest memory?

Playing in the garden with my dog.

When did you last cry, and why?

At my friend’s funeral, four years ago.

Who would you most like to meet?

Joni Mitchell.

What’s your favourite food?

Spaghetti ai frutti di mare.

Who’s your favourite person on social media right now?

Jon Mallia.

If you could travel in time, where would you go?

In Paris – beginning of the 20th century.

What book are you reading right now?

‘In camera – Francis Bacon’, a book by Martin Harrison.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

To fly.

What’s one thing you want to do before you die?

To visit again Flores in Indonesia.

What music are you listening to at the moment?

Pino Daniele.

In the shower or when you’re working out, what do you sing/listen to?

Jamiroquai.