Published on Friday 20 September 2019

Arts Council Malta is delighted to endorse and express its support for Professor Victor Grech’s forthcoming book A Tale of Two Cities: Malta’s Grand Harbour and Manhattan.

The volume takes its reader through an exciting journey in images that serves as a repository  — and a documentary — to a set of photographs which Professor Grech took and edited on his Samsung S9.

The photographs were then printed on aluminium panels and showcased at various exhibitions, including the title exhibition itself — A Tale of Two Cities: Manchester — Malta’s Grand Harbour. Dedicated ‘To all those born with congenital heart disease’, the book has been created as a not-for-profit fundraiser in aid of the Maltese NGO Beating Hearts Malta, of which Prof. Grech — a Consultant Paediatrician with a special interest in Cardiology at Mater Dei Hospital — is also President.

In his Introduction, Prof. Grech, who has also authored an engaging text to accompany our experience of his photography, expresses his hope that the volume ‘will be the first in a series detailing future exhibitions that capture tales of two cities.’ The project is indeed gathering speed, with another exhibition — A Tale of Two Cities: Manhattan-Valletta — opened at the Auberge de Castille earlier in September and hosted by the Office of the Prime Minister and Mrs Michelle Muscat. 

The exhibition, which features twenty-five paired photographs of Valletta and Manhattan, will also be held next April at the EC English Language School in Times Square, Manhattan, and will be opened by tenor and Maltese Cultural Ambassador Joseph Calleja.

Punctuated with carefully chosen quotes by poets, authors, artists and world-renowned personalities, the book guides its reader in an intelligent way through the author-photographer’s thoughts, Valletta and Manchester as seen through his eyes, and the book’s commentary and researched features.

A Tale of Two Cities also provides some information about Valletta and Manchester, a rationale for the exhibition itself, along with pertinent sections such as those explaining the importance of football in Manchester and a brief history of Manchester United Football Club. 

Beating Hearts Malta is an NGO founded in December 2011 as an independent, non-profit foundation established primarily to support the needs of parents having children born with Congenital Heart Defects (CHD), as well as adults living with CHD. The idea to set up the organisation was the result of the concerted effort of Dr Edward Callus, Prof. Victor Grech and Mrs Katrina Aquilina, the parent of a child with operated complex CHD.

Besides enabling families to share their experiences and to offer good practical advice, Beating Hearts Malta organises fundraising activities to expedite the purchase of medical equipment and machinery, and to further provide for research in the area of Congenital Heart Disease. This cause, Prof. Grech points out, is what both the photography exhibition, together with his upcoming book, are all about. 

More information about Beating Hearts Malta may be found at www.beatingheartsmalta.org