The Gathering of Spirits

by Olaug Vethal

• Ink on paper
• 44cm by 64cm
• 52.5cm by 72.5cm framed
• 2000

In The Gathering of Spirits, Olaug Vethal draws upon the visual language of Japanese ukiyo-e, particularly the richly patterned figures and layered compositions associated with Utagawa Kunisada. Figures, architectural structures and decorative forms are compressed into a vibrant space in which conventional perspective gives way to rhythm, pattern and movement.

Across the composition, birds appear to move between these different pictorial realms. Their flight introduces a sense of passage and transformation, while the assembled figures seem less like
inhabitants of a single place than presences gathered across different moments and realities.

Within Vethal’s metaphysical world, The Gathering of Spirits becomes a meeting place between the material and immaterial. Past and present, human and natural, visible and unseen coexist within the same space, as though the painting briefly allows separate worlds to gather together.

This work is currently hung at Spazju A, Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta until 25th October 2026 as part of the exhibition ‘Beyond The Visible | The Metaphysical Worlds of Olaug Vethal, curated by Christine Xuereb and in collaboration with Christine X Art Gallery