The Minister for Gozo Anton Refalo has inaugurated the Mediterranean Peace Donkey Exhibition at Ta’ Pinu Shrine, Gozo.

21 life-sized fibreglass donkeys, modelled after the Maltese donkey, were painted by Gozitan, Maltese, Egyptian and western artists.

Each donkey symbolises something unique but it is also part of the whole. This exhibition in Gozo follows an other exhibition displayed over a two-month period in Mdina.Minister Refalo welcomed this exhibition and described it as a celebration of art, heritage and values. The donkey is a symbol representing both peace and compassion.

Anton Refalo noted that “this exhibition invites us to reconsider this popular image of the donkey and appreciate this animal as being humble and resilient.”

He added that, “Peace is not obtained with loud fanfares or boisterous stunts. It is brought about by composure, compassion, and dialogue in which the first step is not to spurt and rant one’s views but to listen and receive what the other end has to say.”

This Mediterranean Peace Donkey Exhibition is significant on a number of counts. A bridge that covers a long stretch between the Middle-East and the West certainly needs a foundation on which to lay the basic pillars.

The image of the donkey, which is present in Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures, inspired the idea to take this humble animal as a symbol to provide meaning and purpose for the exhibition, which represents diversity, tolerance and peace.

This exhibition is organised and curated by CARAVAN. Caravan is an international peacebuilding arts non-profit organisation focused on building bridges through the arts.

The Mediterranean Peace Donkey exhibition uses the symbol of the renowned and endangered Maltese donkey to focus global attention on four critical needs ie inter-religious harmony, East-West Relations, Donkey Welfare in Conflict Zones of the Middle East and Humanitarian Assistance for Migrants/Refugees in the Mediterranean.

Minister Refalo congratulated the participating artists who took part in this project. A project that communicated a message of tolerance, diversity, living and working together in peace and harmony.

He thanked all those who made this exhibition possible and invited the public to visit this worthwhile initiative. The exhibition is open until Monday, the 29th of February.

Photographs: MGOZ/George Scerri

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