Emerging from Ana Malta’s ongoing exploration of process, transformation, and the unexpected possibilities of image-making, Per Aspera Ad Astra approaches the artwork not as something fixed, but as a space that can continue to evolve. Bringing together a print, sticker book, and series of stickers, the edition invites its owner to participate in that process: adding, moving, layering, or simply choosing to leave the image untouched.

Characteristic of Malta’s practice, colour, pattern, and intuitive gestures develop through accumulation, displacement, and the transformation of the unexpected into possibility. Here, that openness is extended beyond the artist’s hand, allowing time, choice, and participation to become part of the work. Taking its title from the Latin expression “through hardships to the stars,” Per Aspera Ad Astra embraces creation as a journey without a predetermined outcome, where each intervention opens the possibility of another direction.