‘in habit in print’ – What Is It, and Why Now?
Event poster by Samwel Mallia
On February 6, we’re hosting a pop-up event at Kixott, where we’ll be launching exclusive A3 posters and screen-printed tote bags and t-shirts. This event is a collaboration with YMCA Malta and all items are being sold in aid of their new music room in Valletta.
Our collaboration with YMCA Malta means a lot to us. It kickstarted early last year when we were about to start working on the artworks for our new album 'in habit'. If you’re interested, this blog post offers more context about how and why our collaboration came to be, and why this pop-up event is something we’ve been meaning to do for ages.
The truth is that we didn’t write ‘in habit’ with the intention of working with YMCA Malta. Our first thought was to write a new album, so we started out really just focusing on the music side of things. And we found ourselves writing about the spaces we live in and the spaces that surround us. Songs about losing childhood homes. Songs about growing apart from people who no longer inhabit the same spaces as us. Songs about how we associate certain spaces with certain memories and people. We also started to connect each song with a part of a house.
We could have, at that point, just said: “this is what the album is about, thank you very much.” But then we became really interested in the notion that we all experience the same spaces differently. Our stories are personal, but our spaces are shared.
That’s when we had the idea to reach out to six local visual artists – dear friends of ours whose work we highly admire – and asked them whether they would each create an artwork for a song on the album that we’d turn into a postcard set in our vinyl package. That way, we could explore this idea of shared spaces. The music and artworks are inhabiting a shared space, but the stories being told are different.
This is an appropriate time to shout out the artists involved: Sam Falzon, Elisa von Brockdorff, Moira Zahra, Theo Cachia, Malcolm Alden, and Matthew Cardona.
Shortly after, we had another idea: to reach out to YMCA Malta to tell them about this project and see if they wanted to get involved. We didn’t have a really defined plan, but we did feel that an album about shared spaces should, in some way, acknowledge people of all living situations. And if an institution like YMCA Malta could give us some guidance and inspiration, all the better.
So, we set up a meeting, not really knowing what to expect – and we hit it off. Before we knew it, we were having bi-weekly meetings or calls to discuss the direction of the project. We were floored by the enthusiasm of Gabriele and Gwen, our main contacts from the YMCA Youth Empowerment Programme (YEP). We spoke at length about how we could evolve this theme of shared spaces, how we could represent it visually, and how we could turn it into a campaign in tandem with our album release.
When it came to creating the song artworks for ‘in habit’, we developed a two-part process that involved an open dialogue between YMCA Malta and the artists, while making sure the artists still had a lot of autonomy throughout.
PART 1:
We interviewed each artist individually, speaking to them about the themes behind the songs and what spaces we associated each song with. The artists spoke to us about which spaces they resonated with and some experiences from their past and present. This way, we could assign the right song to the right artist.
PART 2:
YMCA Malta organized a Zoom call with the artists to give them some insight about the work they do, and what life is like at the residential shelters. A big shoutout goes out to Kerry, who hosted the call and was happy to answer everybody’s questions. The idea here was not to dictate what direction the artists should take but rather give them some material for inspiration.
The album has been out since July, so it’s not exactly a spoiler to say that the project was a success and that we’re ecstatic with the way the artworks turned out. But the key point here is that we owe YMCA Malta a lot, especially the Youth Empowerment Programme. And even more importantly, they really deserve support for the tireless work they do. The fact that they’re out there changing the lives of people on a daily basis but have still managed to give us so much of their time says a lot.
Which brings us to our pop-up event at Kixott. This event will very much be a celebration of ‘in habit’, and the collaboration we had with the artists and YMCA Malta. The A3 posters are all based on the song artworks from the album, while the screen-printed tote bags and t-shirts are new designs that bring together elements from YMCA’s branding with the ‘in habit’ album art. These items will all be available for pre-order soon.
We’re selling these items in aid of YMCA Malta’s new music room, located in the YEP! Centre in Valletta. This music room will give a creative outlet to people of various living situations. The room is already full of equipment (though more is always welcome), and the plan is to host free music lessons and workshops. Of course, as a band this venture is very near and dear to our hearts.
Any information that isn’t available yet about the event will be out soon – just look out on our Facebook and Instagram pages for updates. If you’re interested in pre-ordering any of the posters or merch, we will soon launch a page with the full list of items and bundle information. And of course, if you can make it, we’d love to see you at Kixott, where you can check out the merch in person. There will be lots of tunes and playlists from different collaborators on the night, so come vibe with us.
That’s enough from us on this blog post, although we do have some parting words from our YMCA Superstars, Gabriele and Gwen:
“We, at YMCA, have always been drawn to self and artistic expression, organising festivals and exhibitions since the 1990s, and giving spaces and support to young people as a means to foster their personal development and wellbeing.
This collaboration with Eyes to Argus means so much to us because not only does it strengthen our bond with some of the finest artists in the local music scene, but it also helps us to make musical expression accessible to more young people as the funds raised through this project will be reinvested in our music space.
In addition to this, the brilliant musical and visual artworks explore themes that relate to feelings and experiences within varied housing spaces, which strongly echoes the experiences of people we work with.
There is so much left to do in Malta when it comes to raising awareness about people at risk of poverty or suffering from inadequate housing situations. The stigma is high, and there are still a lot of misperceptions on the reasons why a person may end up without a home. This journey has been intriguing for our team because we reckon that opening up these realities through artistic media such as music and visual arts is more nuanced than our usual campaigns and hence can reach a broader audience.”