Human advancement is inseparable from history, history from time, and time from memory. The manuscripts preserved at the Notarial Archives in Valletta, Malta, are unique guardians of national identity, spanning more than six centuries back to the era of the Order of the Knights of St. John.

​

The Notarial Archives Foundation houses, among numerous other documents, a collection of severely damaged manuscripts devastated during wartime bombing in the 1940's. After the war, the surviving fragments were discarded into garbage bags and abandoned for decades. Years later, Dr. Joan Abela and a small team of volunteers rescued these remnants, preserving them despite their seemingly irreparable condition.

​

This photographic project began when photographer Alex Attard was invited to explore the Archives. Encountering these forgotten fragments, he was inspired by their powerful sculptural forms. A dialogue emerged between photographer and object, exploring loss, memory, absence, presence and renewal. Through photography, the damaged manuscripts are granted an alternative existence, where history informs art and art restores visibility, meaning and continuity to history.

​

​

​