04/10/2026
This Tuesday, 18.00 at the Mediterranean Institute - University of Malta - our opening Seminar for the new Academic Year. This promises to be a wonderful presentation! All participants are welcome to stay on for some light refreshments after the event 🌊🎙️
PASQUALE MAZZACANO (1870-1942) - THE MEDITERRANEAN JOURNEY OF A NEAPOLITAN PAINTER AND PHOTOGRAPHER
What began as a personal curiosity about a family ancestor—Pasquale Mazzacano (1870-1942)—has, for Dr Edward Mazzacano D’Amato, developed into a broader exploration of a storied experience of painting, photography, migration and identity across the Mediterranean.
The first Mediterranean Institute Seminar for this academic year follows the footsteps of Neapolitan painter and photographer Pasquale Mazzacano, tracing his journey from Naples to Malta in the late nineteenth century, where, like many Italian artists of his time, he came in search of work opportunities.
Mazzacano’s only known painting in Malta, preserved in the parish church at Dingli, forms part of the wider Italian artistic legacy found in churches and private collections throughout the Maltese Islands. His later transition from painting to photography reflects the changing visual culture of the period as well as the newly emergent ways of documenting people, places and society.
Mazzacano subsequently travelled to Tunisia and Algeria, where he settled and lived until his death. His family’s story provides a personal lens for the exploration of aspects of Mediterranean migration, colonialism, cultural exchange, as well as the complex history and modes of identity of the pied noir community.The seminar brings together Professor Jean-Marie Barbet, Mazzacano’s grandson, born in Algeria in 1947, and Dr Edward Mazzacano D’Amato, his great-grandson, born in Malta in 1979.
About the speakers:
Professor Jean-Marie Barbet was born in Oran, Algeria, in 1947, and grandson of Pascal Mazzacano (Naples, 1870–Algiers, 1942). He left French Algeria for Marseille in 1962, where he has lived ever since. His experience of displacement and his identity as a Pied-Noir have informed his longstanding interest in the history, memory and social legacy of French Algeria. He began his teaching career in 1973, specialising in Economic and Social Sciences. Over a 35-year career, he taught at première, seconde and terminale levels, preparing students for the Baccalaureate, and also served as a lecturer and mentor for first-year students. He was particularly committed to supporting students from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, including those of Maghrebi and African immigrant heritage. Retired since 2008, he is married, a father of three and grandfather of six. His participation in the seminar reflects a personal and historical engagement with the themes of memory, nostalgia and colonisation.
Dr Edward Mazzacano D’Amato is a Senior Executive within the Access Disability Support Unit (ADSU) at the University of Malta. His professional and research interests centre on access and inclusion in education, with particular emphasis on the experiences and needs of students with specific learning difficulties, particularly dyslexia. His work in this field of Access includes advocating for students who are in a minority and often marginalised by an education system that is often perceived as competitive and highly driven. As a result, he has fostered a broader interest in the experiences, challenges, identity, and positioning of minority groups within their communities and wider society. This area of research has developed into a wider engagement with social and cultural history, particularly through the research of his family heritage that have deep roots in Mediterranean migration. His research also explores the ways in which personal and collective histories are preserved and represented, with a particular interest in painting and photography as forms of historical and social documentation.
Entry to the Mediterranean Institute Seminar is free of charge.
Once again, this academic year, the Mediterranean Institute is making the Seminar accessible to members of the general public. Students and postgraduate researchers are particularly encouraged to attend. The seminar presentation will be followed by a twenty-minute Q&A session. Participants are cordially invited to stay on for refreshments and further conversation after the seminar. Places are on a first-come-first-served basis. In order to book a place, kindly email Ms Isabelle Abela at [email protected]
