The fourth edition of the MICAS International Art Weekend celebrated the work of American artist Michele Oka Doner: The Palm Goddess for Malta. 

Born and raised in Miami, Michele Oka Doner is an internationally renowned artist whose career spans six decades. Her work is fuelled by a lifelong study and appreciation of the natural world, from which she derives her formal vocabulary. The breadth of her artistic production encompasses sculpture, drawing, public art, functional objects, video, artist books, and costume and set design. She is well known for creating numerous permanent art installations throughout the United States. 

The Palm Goddess for Malta is a work of art that embraces the figurative tradition of the ancient past. The sculpture also draws inspiration from the monumental leaves of Phoenix dactylifera, a palm that inhabits the Maltese archipelago. This abstract but definitely female form is c.  4 metres high, a soaring figure held aloft on a c. 2 meters “trunk” that symbolises growth from the Maltese soil. Just as the vast majority of archaeological finds represent a deity, something sacred, The Palm Goddess embodies human aspiration and the desire to be lifted up and moved forward by creative expression. The sculpture is installed at Pjazza Teatru Rjal, Valletta. 

Learn more: micas.art/exhibitions