Mariah Buhagiar is a cross disciplinary artist based in Malta, alternating between fine art and documentary narrative. During the period spent in Estonia for Erasmus, a change in style happened when she switched from realist portrait drawing to analogue photography, which was the start of her experimentation with different photographic techniques.  

Mariah has an interest with the sea, especially in surfing as a lived experience, using oil painting, cyanotypes and video. The ocean connects location, identity and mobility by acting as subject, surface and metaphor. Cyanotypes that are related to the sea and surfing are the subject of recent work, which harness the medium’s relationship to light and exposure to mimic the unpredictable rhythms of water.  

In addition to photography, Mariah creates documentaries focused on surfing, bringing the sport into moving images and storytelling.  

With a bachelor’s degree in fine art, Mariah has had the opportunity to exhibit in the ombudsman’s office in Malta and also in Estonia with a group exhibition called metamorfoos. Through an integrated conversation between documentation and immersion, art and design, the approach keeps developing.