Frank Kirchner
Photographer

“There is a thing with magic. You’ve got to know it’s still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible.”
Charles De Lint

I would like to make the magic moment a little bit visible: in real life – especially in Maltese Carnival. It’s full of magic, sometimes not on the first sight!

Please follow me:
Carnival in Malta – without a mask!

Photo exhibition “Maltese Carnival”in Spazju Kreattiv, Space B, in Valletta,
20. January – 6. March 2022

My pictures in the exhibition are telling an insightful story of the different facets of the Maltese Carnival. In the last 5 years, a lot of Carnival enthusiasts have open their doors to their warehouses, giving me the opportunity for a profund look behind the scenes!
Carnival in Malta is more than an event, more than a lifestyle on a surface. It’s an icon of the real world, the true meaning of culture: with feelings and passion. A drama in presumably countless acts!

TV Interview with Jason Busuttil, Artistic Director Carnival: Presentation of the photo exhibition “Through The Eyes Of A Friend” as an addition to the costume exhibition and the poetic farce “Il Qarċilla”.

Reactions to the photo exhibition “Maltese Carnival”:

Holger Camilleri

“Frank… you’re much more than a friend – you’re one of us nowadays! Good luck and looking forward to visit your masterpieces and exhibition.”

Holger Camilleri
Jason Micallef

“Frank has adopted Valletta and Valletta has adopted Frank. His passion for anything Maltese speaks loudly in every image.”
His lens has artfully captured life around the Maltese islands. Each image is an open invitation for the eye to enter and wander in.
His images depicting our carnival are dazzling and bewildering. Frank’s work evokes the truth of how Malta looks and feels.
He is truly a unique cultural ambassador for Malta.

Thank you Frank for your friendship.”

Jason Micallef,
Chairman Valletta Cultural Agency
Jeremy Mercieca

“Frank – a professional photographer who is fascinated with Maltese Carnival. His photos are a momento and give praise to all the volunteers who sacrifice their time and family in order to produce magnificent master pieces. Thank you Frank, you keep our memories alive! “

Jeremy Mercieca
Catherine Tabone

“Frank is an artist whose work recounts reality in the most honest and unembellished of ways. His photos capture life as it happens; they are snapshots that give viewers a taste of a particular moment in time. Aside from their creative component, his photos are often excellent historical documentation for the future.”

Catherine Tabone
CEO – Valletta Cultural Agency
Sarah Jayne

“You are like us, a gypsy! Have fun.”

Sarah Jayne
Film director – Nexus Production Group
Carlo Olivari Demanuele

“Frank does not only capture a moment, but he picks up the essence of what being a carnival enthusiast means,that is sacrifice, talent, skills, and perseverance. Most of all he portrays the sense of community, involvement,renewed traditions and the true meaning of culture.”

Carlo Olivari Demanuele
Bertold Schmitt-Feuerbach

“Frank’s photos show us the heart and soul of Maltese carnival.”

Bertold Schmitt-Feuerbach
(editor, Valletta| Das Journal)
Winfried Trenkler

“I have experienced and admired Frank Kirchner on long journeys as a landscape photographer. Since then I have watched his love for Malta, the Maltese and their culture develop and deepen.

A particularly beautiful flowering of this culture is the carnival which is easy to take photos of.But the carnival is not exhausted in its attractive surface alone, it contains much more, it is deep culture.

To capture this depth and richness in pictures it takes a photographer of exceptional quality.One with a curious and understanding mind and eye for all facets of this cultural event.Frank Kirchner is one of those few. His fotos show the necessary work, the meticulous effort, the solidary cooperation,the joy of the creative process, the “being lost in dreams”, the tense expectation, the self-confidence in the presentation.

In this exhibition you see the manifest and lasting result of collective carnival creation and at the same time the many,many individual fantasies that are possible and welcome within this cultural framework. I take the liberty of offering an advice to all viewers: walk, glide along these pictures, open yourself to their filigree details, marvel at the dreams of your fellow human beings and take something with you into your daydreams!”

Winfried Trenkler,
(Radio man and mediator of music)