'When I arrived at Joya: AIR I was determined to start working on a writing project. During the pandemic it was hard for me to find space to create, the space already felt occupied with bad news, worries and expectations.

With my time at Joya: AIR I wanted to make up for this waste of time and disappear into my computer for a month so I could come home with a lot of results.

The complete opposite happened.

When I arrived, I was blown away by the beauty of it all. I could not ignore the space. The nature, the mountains, the beautiful studio, the other artists, the food, the stunning white building, the sun, the heath, the art, the time.

I could not bring myself to my computer, I had to do something with the space. I played with objects collected from the nature, rocks, bones, roots, old tuna cans from generations of sheep herds. I started creating things with my hands instead of on my computer.

I decided that It is okay to take up space, to take time, to not feel pressure, to just have fun, to just breath and exist. Sometimes that is enough and as an artist I have to trust that everything will start flowing once I decide to let go.

In the Netherlands we use the word ‘onthaasten’ directly translated ‘de-hurrying’ to slow down. It became an practice in ‘onthaasten'.

When I came home, I did not have any physical results but I gained way more than I had expected.'

Hanna Fleer

Hanna has just finished two theatre schools of (both) four years. The first one was in the direction of performance and the second, the one she graduated from in 2020, was for writing for performance. She makes installations, podcasts, movies and theatre. She has just finished a multilingual play that will be performed in France directed by Anne Berelowitch and right now she is working on a play for children that will be performed at schools in the Netherlands. Her work has recently been published by 'Buitenkunst' a bundle of very short plays.

Joya: AiR / Hanna Fleer / NDL