Daniel Cilia

Daniel Cilia

Daniel Cilia born in Victoria, Gozo, Malta in 1963, has been pursuing photography since he was thirteen.

Self‑taught, he learnt the technical aspects of photography, and more importantly realized how light shapes and forms our visual perceptions of everyday life. Cilia has always insisted that photography is not about equipment but its all about the quality of light and how it modulates three-dimensional objects. Cilia’s first major exhibition was at the Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta, Malta in 1986. Later that year he was awarded the Licentiate of Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain.

Soon after he left his nursing profession and transferred to Florence, Italy, to pursue his career in photography. Cilia has since lectured at the National College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Oslo, Norway (1989), and was in charge of the Photographic Department of the Art Institute of Florence, Lorenzo de Medici, from 1990 to 1995. His work has been exhibited and published in many countries.

In the last twenty-three years, Cilia has specialized in editorial photographic design, with more than eighty books about the Maltese islands and their history to his credit.

In 2008 Cilia was awarded the prize for the best-designed book (Gorgeous Gozo) by the National Book Council ­(Malta). In the same year he was presented with the Award of Recognition for his contribution to the Photographic Art in Malta by the Malta Institute of Professional Photography.

In 2009 he was bestowed the knightly title Croce pro Merito Melitensi, by Frà Matthew Festing, Grand Master and Prince of the Sovereign Military Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta, in recognition to Cilia’s various publications about the Order.

In 2010 he was conferred the Gieħ Għawdex Award for having contributed to the national cause of the island of Gozo with his books and publications. In the same year his book Panoramic Malta & Gozo (which was also the first he authored) was awarded first prize in its category by the National Book Council (Malta).