UAL Art for the Environment Residency Programme / Nicholas Holt
photo Simon Beckmann
Nicholas Holt's Joya: AiR Spain AER Residency Report
Nicholas Holt, MA Photojournalism & Documentary Photography student from London College of Communication was been selected for the AER residency at JOYA: arte + ecología, Spain and shares his residency report with Post-Grad Community.
Set up by Professor Lucy Orta UAL Chair of Art for the Environment - Centre for Sustainable Fashion in 2015, The Art for the Environment International Artist Residency Programme (AER) provides UAL graduates with the exceptional opportunity to apply for short residencies at one of our internationally renowned host institutions, to explore concerns that define the 21st century – biodiversity, environmental sustainability, social economy, and human rights.
Intentions
The JOYA residency was an opportunity for me to extend my desertification project - which I began in the Sahara in 2022 – by exploring the phenomena of desertification in southern Spain. I also wanted to the residency to develop my practice and experiment with the materiality of analog photography in the JOYA darkroom – something that I was unable to access at home.
Journey to JOYA
As JOYA is a carbon-positive residency, it seemed fitting to take the lower-carbon option of the train to travel to Spain. I had inter-railed through Europe in my twenties and was excited to set off on another rail adventure. The four day journey took me from the Peak District to Alicante via London, Paris, and Barcelona – with time to sample the cafe culture of Paris and glimpse the surreal splendour of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. With each leg of the journey, I would gaze through the train window and feel my horizons expand. By the time Simon collected me from a cafe in Velez Rubio I felt that I had actually travelled, and arrived better acclimatised than if I had stepped from a plane into the furnace of Almeria in August.
First days
After four days of travel, it was a joy to have the luxury of a comfortable room, nourishing food, and two uninterrupted weeks to devote to my practice amid an incredible landscape. JOYA is a unique cultural centre in an arid and de- populated land, there is a quality of ingenuity, resilience, and positivity there that I found energising. I appreciated the peaceful, supportive atmosphere, which gave me the physical and mental space to be able to immerse myself in the surrounding area.
As an artist working with the land, the rhythm of my days was dictated by the intense heat of the Spanish summer sun. I would rise as the first glow of the sun appeared through my bedroom window, make coffee in the Italian-style percolator, and walk out into the cool morning air to start the day’s explorations. By 10am the temperature would soar, and I would retreat to the house for breakfast.
During the daytime, I would research, make notes, develop ideas, and chat with the other resident artists. In the evening I would resume my explorations, before making my way back to watch the sunset over the valley with my fellow residents – a daily ritual at the JOYA residency.
I made work using the approach that I developed during my MA - responding to a place rather than using ideas that were already formed in my head. I spent the first week taking meditative walks, using the heightened senses that arose from being in a new environment.
Whilst walking I made digital and film photographs of the landscape for my desertification project: of the arid topography, daisies pushing their way through the cracked earth, an abandoned farmhouse, irrigation systems, exposed tree roots reaching into space from a gorge wall, boulder fields where barley struggles to grow, almond trees (one of the few things that can grow here) and scorched fields with the same white hue as the unpaved roads…
To read the rest of Nicholas Holts residency report please follow this link…