Portraits, Gifts and Exchange Valuation in Xlendi Bay, Malta

Abstract

This article explores gift exchange and valuation based on a fieldwork experience in Xlendi Bay, Malta, during which the author gave strangers portrait drawings of themselves for free. Participants systematically gave back more than what was expected (money, drinks, etc.). What does this case study say about the valuation and performativity of (portrait) gifts? By subjecting classic anthropological theories of valuation and gift exchange to an experimental methodology and ethnographic data, this short article shows that monetary value is constructed through a series of aspects specific to each social interaction. In this social setting, several components play a role: (1) the creation of intimacy through timing, corporeal positioning, the author's gaze and the act of giving itself; (2) the potential of identification in the portrait; (3) the visibility of the act of production and the subjective valuation of the gift receiver; (4) the blurred boundaries between commodity and gift; and (5) positionality.