photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Kathryn Fullerton / CAN

“During my residency at Joya: AiR I enjoyed the opportunity to get to know the ecology of place through sensory walks, observation, research and creating with materials from the land. Three site-specific installations, using organic materials such as earth (clay), charcoal, Esparto grass, and pine branches/needles, emerged during the period of my stay. I also experimented with using my body in the landscape as a way of healing my own alienation from the natural world, finding connection through the materiality of making and relating more deeply with the spirit of place.

I appreciated the opportunity to talk one-on-one with artists by visiting them in their studios organically throughout the day and collaborating with other artists on projects. Coming together at the end of a day to sit by the fire and share a delicious meal was a highlight. Gratitude to Donna and Simon for tending to this place, and to the artists, with genuine kindness and care”..

BIO

Kathryn explores and responds to emergent questions arising from lived experience. Clay, with its earthy, tactile nature, invites her to follow quiet impulses through deep embodied listening. Works that emerge from this process are not fixed or predetermined; rather, they are shaped by intuition, reflection, and an ongoing dialogue between hands and earth, often yielding organic and surprising phenomena.

In 2009 Kathryn received her MA in Environmental Education and Communication and was a Governor General’s Gold Award nominee based on her arts based thesis. Her creativity flourished when she lived in Indonesia from 2017-2019 and started taking workshops at Gaya Ceramic Arts Centre. Clay became the medium that awakened memories from childhood and it is from this ground/earth where her land based art practice emerges alongside training in Embodied Imagination™️, which is a creative and therapeutic way of working with dreams.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Sandra Eichinger / AUS

“I am walking, taking a stroll, meandering, making meaning, in a state of deep care, connected feeling.

Within the vast landscape of Joya: AiR, everything seems light and everything seems possible. Around us nothing but nature, we all suddenly have so much time, so much space and so little distractions: creativity is inescapable and curious minds are all around. I started world building outside, maybe to escape, maybe to locate: my hands are forming ephemeral landscapes of clay (the skin of the earth). I go on to work inside, in my wonderful cave-like, womb-like studio - some more wor(l)d building. My hands, dry from the clay, the Spanish wind, cut out words, carefully framing them into poetry, text based collages and writing, writing - the words are flowing so easily onto paper and screens. 

In the evening there is time for laughter, time to share secrets, Donna's deliciously cooked meals, the bell announcing them, all of us hungrily waiting around the fireplace, faces red from the warm winter sun and harsh wind, faces green from a face mask. Hands are building again, knitting, a scarf, turqoise like the water missing in this dry area. My Joya scarf. I teach Rachel how to knit, she shows me how to develop photos using rosemary. I write about Maria's work, her radiating from within, Juliette says thank you for writing about art, I think: thank you for creating your playful theatres, they inspire, they care. I am listening to Niki's poems, those beautifully selected words stay with me for a long time, I re-read them again the next day. We are all looking forward to our first dinner with Kathryn, she is sifting clay, the finest skin. Sam and Tommy are the first ones I meet, their aura of calm and friendliness feels like an embrace, their passion for music vibrates. Donna and Simon's warm welcome and stories shared over dinner are special and show how much they care about creating this space. I run my hands through Frida's fur, she is not a dog but a giant. I visit Fufu, cut around a photo of her for a goat collage - skin, earth, kin, I cut my way around a manifesto of care.

Joya: AiR, a place enabling conversations and connections - it means jewel... What a fitting description”.

Sandra Eichinger

“I am a curatorial assistant and spokesperson for sustainability at the contemporary art museum Lentos in Linz, Austria and take on freelance projects in art writing and art historic research. In recent jobs I have been working at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna and as a freelance art historian and art writer at the sculpture symposion Lindabrunn, Austria. I have also been teaching at the University of Vienna, tutoring courses in "Introductions to Academic writing" and "Art Reception in the museal context". In 2022 I received a scholarship for the Summeracademy Salzburg, participating in the course "The Art of Writing about Art". I am currently finishing my MA degree in Art history at the University of Vienna and did my BA degree in textile art and design at the Kunstuniversität Linz with an exchange semester in Fashion Design at NABA Milano, Italy and took part in a summer course at the London College of Fashion, thus having a strong connection to textiles, fiber aesthetics and the field where arts and crafts interlace. Additionally, creative writing is a strong part of my daily life and I am creating poem based collages”.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Juliette Ezaoui / FRA

“I decided to go to Joya: AiR when the days in London started to feel gloomy, and the thought of winter coming made me take the decision. The cold, dark months ahead pushed me to seek a change, and Joya: AiR felt like the perfect escape.

I stayed for three weeks at the residency, and the blue skies and yellow sun in January felt like a treat—an unexpected break in the middle of my London life, a burst of oxygen on these cold winter days.

I felt incredibly welcomed in Donna and Simon’s home. It felt as if we were part of their life, part of their family, all isolated together at the top of the same mountain.

It was a great time to focus and start working toward a new body of work. The silence and the calm landscape made this residency feel like a long meditative journey. It helped clear the noise in my head, to "catch the big fish," as our dear friend Lynch would say.

In this simple, peaceful routine, a few moments punctuated our days. The communal dinners with the other residents were something to look forward to. Donna is an amazing chef, and you could feel her love and motherly care in every meal, every night. Simon would start his ritual of lighting the stoves throughout the house, filling the space with warmth and creating a comforting soundtrack to the evening.

Thank you, Donna and Simon, for your time and attention. And thank you, Imogen, Rachel, Kathrine, Maria, Nikki, Sandra, Thera, Katia, and Laure, for all the laughter, great conversations, long walks, and love”.

Juliette Ezaoui

Juliette Ezaoui’s practice explores the interconnectedness of living, non-living, human, and non-human systems, particularly through soil. Drawing on her horticulture studies at OrganicLea, she investigates how soil reveals the foundations of life above it. Ezaoui is concerned with the idea that humans are not isolated but intricately linked to the organisms and materials around them. She believes this understanding can challenge Western models of consumerism, politics, and economics, offering a potential path to address the climate crisis.

Ezaoui (b. 1992) has an MA in Interior Architecture from Olivier de Serre, Paris (2014), attended the Turps Art School studio programme in London (2019–2021), and completed a degree in Organic Horticulture from OrganicLea (2022), London. She is a permanent studio holder at Studio Voltaire, London and co-founded The Gleaners Collective.

She has shown works with Studio Voltaire (2024); published her work with Chelsea curatorial MA students and the Mosaic Rooms (2024); Blink Collective, London (2024; 2022); Blue shop cottage (2023), created a site-specific installation for OrganicLea Farm, London (2022); for Cyprus College of Art, Cyprus (2022); Eel Pie Island, London (2022); Thames Side Studio Gallery, London (2021); PADA Gallery, Lisbon (2019); Eveliebe Gallery with Soho Beach Hotel, Barcelona (2019); Gallery Tarivoci, Paris (2018).

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Maria Marvila / ESP

esp + eng

«Un ecosistema ha crecido debajo de mis párpados. El territorio interior respira, una orografía nacida de la luz. El monte de invierno vaporiza vibrante, los pájaros cantan para los olivos, a lo lejos, en un silencio azul, se abren los sueños en flor.»

Durante mi residencia en Joya: AiR, he creado un estado de calma y consciencia, para volverme sensible a la morfología del paisaje. Mediante la práctica diaria de paseos en silencio, de la pintura y la meditación, el florecimiento del paisaje interior ha sucedido de forma natural. He intentado pintar este lugar, que se nutre de los colores de la luz, de las formas de la tierra, y los aromas de las plantas silvestres que se encuentran en la Sierra María Los Vélez. Y llegado un punto, las obras han cobrado vida y han estado danzando con los almendros alrededor de la casa.

La estadía en Joya: AiR ha significado un momento especial, para cuidar la creación y el espíritu, en el que conectar con un entorno único. Estoy muy agradecida a Donna y a Simon por su hospitalidad y calidez, con su cuidado creativo de esta tierra, hacen que este lugar esté lleno de vida y de posibilidades.

(eng)

«An ecosystem has grown beneath my eyelids. The inner landscape breathes, an orography born of light. The winter mount vaporizes vibrantly, birds sing for the olive trees, in the distance, in a blue silence, dreams are opened in bloom.»

During my residency in Joya: AiR, I have created a state of calm and awareness, to become sensitive to the morphology of the landscape. Through the daily practice of silent walks, painting and meditation, the flowering of the inner landscape has happened naturally. I have tried to paint this place, which is nourished by the colours of the sunlight, the shapes of the earth, and the aromas of the wild plants found at the Sierra María Los Vélez. And at one point, the works came to life and were dancing with the almond trees around the house.

The stay in Joya: AiR has meant a special moment to care for creation and the spirit, in which to connect with a unique environment. I am very grateful to Donna and Simon for their hospitality and warmth. With their creative care of this land, they make this place one full of life and possibilities.

Website:

https://www.mariamarvila.com/

Bio:

Maria Marvila’s work is alive, and thus in constant mutation, fed by the traced drifts in the lived territory. Through her practice, she engages in a dialogue with the inhabited environment, weaving links with its living beings. From a conscious exploration of the land, she evokes her geomorphology, her motion and essence. Using languages such as watercolour, ephemeral organic sculptures and in situ action, while embracing the participation of other beings and meditating through the process, she creates works that aim to grow a sacred connectedness.

Master in Art Production and Research (2019) and Bachelor in Fine Arts (2015), Universitat de Barcelona and Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia. Her work has been presented at Ermita de Sant Baldiri, Cadaqués, curated by Matèria edicions (2024); at 8 albe, Contemporary Art Overview, Sicily, curated by Carolina Ciuti (2023); at Fundació Palau, Caldes d’Estrac, curated by Esther Vilà (2022); at Centre ARBAR, La Vall de Santa Creu (2021); at FIAC Cinéphémère, Paris, selected by Carolina Ciuti (2019); at Fabra i Coats, Barcelona (2019); at Despina, Rio de Janeiro (2018); at MECÀNIC, Barcelona, curated by Magali Avezou (2018); and Córtex Frontal, Arraiolos (2016).

photo Simón Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Neus Crous Costa / ESP

“I came to Joya: AiR with a plan to make significant progress on a manuscript about intimate experiences, otherness, and relation to the world. This was part of my doctoral research on tourism as a transformative experience, which is growing into a managerial-political perspective focusing on well-being for all. Artistic practices such as visual arts, textile art, needlework, and woodcarving are ways of materialising thoughts, further developing ideas, and linking multidisciplinary research together.

The plan during my stay was to work on my studio and to take short strolls. Consequently, I mindfully did not pack any walking shoes. The terrain around the house is rather easy to walk on. Donna and Simon sustain a home that is perfectly embedded in its place and their management allows you to fall in love with the place; not in a platonic way, but in a truly embodied one. Somehow the place found its way to the structure of my

manuscript and natural materials were incorporated into my painting and sketching. Shortly after I regretted not having packed my walking shoes”.

Neus Crous Costa

-----

Bio

I am a researcher in tourism as a personal transformation and public management for

the wellbeing of all. My career as a scholar and cultural manager goes hand in hand

with artistic practice.

A couple of years ago I began using carnet de voyages (travel diaries) to plan and

register my trips, which for now are only over land (or sea) due to ecological and social

concerns. This helps me staying on a slow pace. Stopping to sketch, instead of taking

photos. Write down bus and train schedules, instead of checking them repreatedly on

the internet.

I have modestly participated in collective exhibitions in Barcelona and Madrid (2022-

2024): Utopía / Distopía (organised by Extinction Rebellion Art Milan) and Mujeres

Artistas (La Botànica).

Instagram: @gemedet

Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/neus-crous-costa-954b4144/

photo Simón Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Laura Bachman / FRA

“Thank you Donna and Simon for offering with Joya: AiR, a little corner of paradise for inspiration and creativity. It was a precious time for me to reflect on my practice, let space for ideas to flow and feel nurtured by the environment. I felt fully connected to the landscape, its quietness, dramatic winds and powerful sun.

During my time in Joya, I worked on two projects, a dance film and a future performance set to premiere in November 2025.

The film is a continuation of my first piece « Ne me touchez pas », taking the opening solo of that work to turn it into a short dance film. The idea with this project is to use dance as a narrative tool to tell a story through bodies moving, exploring the genre of horror, without words. The body is a powerful storyteller that has yet to be explored fully through the lense of a camera.

The piece is a dance performance inspired by a book tetralogy by Jean-Philippe Toussaint. Through this work, I aim to explore the thems of love, grief and womanhood. During my time in Joya, I managed to figure out the structure in which the piece should be developed and the main threads that should be pulled from the books.

A very peaceful, beautiful, enriching and precious time!”

Laura Bachman

Laura Bachman is a French dancer and choreographer. She started dance through ballet in Paris Opera Ballet school before joining the company in 2011. In 2016 she moved to Belgium after working in Los Angeles and the Benjamin Millepied's company, LA Dance Project.

In Brussels she works as a full time member of Rosas, the company of Anne-Teresa de Keersmaeker. As a freelancer she has worked for many different artists, performing with Boris Charmatz or works by Pina Bausch with the Tanztheater Wuppertal, choreographing for movies by Wes Anderson or Manele Labidi, working with musicians such as Rone or Jain as both dancer and choreographer.

In 2021 she created a short dance film "Chimère" (SF Dance Film Festival, InShadow - Lisbon ScreenDance festival, London International Screen Dance Festival) and is currently touring in Europe with her piece "Ne me touchez pas". She is currently preparing two new projects : a dance piece based on a book tetralogy by Belgian author Jean-Philippe Toussaint (the cycle of Marie : Faire l'amour / Fuir / La vérité sur Marie / Nue) and a short dance film based on a solo from her piece "Ne me touchez pas".

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / William Crosby / UK-CYP

I wrote my application to Joya AiR from a hospital waiting room, following a health scare in the summer. All my family, friends, colleagues, and doctors had been telling me to slow down and take it easier for a long time, and now, my body had finally forced me to. Getting the email from Donna and Simon accepting my application while on the bus home was the pick-me-up I needed; I had something to look forward to and work towards.

Being at Joya: AiR made me realise that a different way of working was possible. I quickly became attuned to the pace of off-grid, communal life, living alongside the rising and setting of the sun, free from artificial light and the rest of modernity’s distractions. The environment Donna and Simon have created is something special: free of demand or expectation, respectful and in harmony with its local ecology, and genuine in its seeking of kinship.

I arrived to write a book chapter; my first. It is a practice-based chapter, which grows from my PhD research around sonic pedagogy, mud and soil studies, and broader ideas around how we learn and share knowledge through sound in the age of climate crisis. Joya AiR was the perfect setting in which to begin researching and writing: any moments of writers’ block were soon rectified by making a coffee and taking a stroll around the building, giving FouFou (the goat) a little stroke, taking deep breaths of mountain air, and listening to the sound of my footsteps upon the various types of earth and vegetation around the site.

Joya AiR is like an oasis; I know it is not a reality I can directly recreate in my daily life back here in UK, but the experience and learnings will reshape my ways-of-being. Donna and Simon were wonderful hosts, and now, friends. I’ve been attempting to recreate their recipes nightly, and I returned home feeling the most refreshed, nourished, and inspired I have been in years.

William Crosby

William Crosby is a British/Greek-Cypriot artist, musician, pedagogue, and agitator based in Cambridge/London UK.

His practice finds its foundations in the environmental humanities, sound art, and radical pedagogies, working with field recordings, text scores, improvisation, writing, and communal sound-making to ask how sound can build knowledge with our more-than-human contexts, and how this knowledge can develop communal pedagogical tools fit for our age of climate crises. This work thinks about how sound enables embodied encounters with others, and how these stand as a radical act of co-working.

William is a member of MUD Collective, a sedimentology–art–sound research group collaborating across Iraq, India, France, and the UK, who explore thinking with, through, and about mud, in consideration of shifting ideas around human and more-than-human, organic and inorganic intra-actions, and towards a real geopolitics for today. He is also a member of artist-activist duo, (CWxWC), with Dr Cecilia Wee, whose work seeks to sound out an investigation into re-tuning the politics of listening within multiple cultural, social, economic, and environmental crises.

William is currently a PhD student within the Creative Research in Sound Arts Practice (CRiSAP) department, at London College of Communication: University of the Arts, London, under the supervision of Dr Mark Peter Wright and Prof Salomé Voegelin. He also lectures at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, in sound/music studies, media & communications, film and fine art. William is a Wysing Studio Artist 2024-2029.

www.crosbywilliam.com

Joya: AiR / Toon Jans / Belgium

“Slowing down at Joya: AiR came as a welcome change after a busy and eventful year. A place like this kind of forces you to slow down. Gently you settle into the rythm and start to live by the rising and the setting of the sun. 

What convinced me to apply to the residency was the availability of a dark room and the ecological view of the place. Two things that generally don’t really add up since dark rooms tend to use a lot of chemicals. In my work ecology and conservation are recurring themes. In the past I had felt conflicted about my love for dark room photography because of its use of different chemicals. I had taken part in different workshops about ecological dark room techniques before, but never found the time to efficiently implement them into my own practice. Bringing all of my previous gathered materials on the subject I had plenty of time to experiment with film and paper development using ecological alternatives. Returning to my own studio I feel confident enough about my newly acquired skills to rid my studio of polluting chemicals. 

The second part of my stay I devoted to a book project that got shelved about a year ago. It feels like ages ago me and Michelle Daniëlse, graphic design, started working on this. Before heading to Joya: AiR the only time the book would ever come up again was when Michelle would text me: “Toon, are you working on the book again?” My answers hadn’t been positive in a long time…

Most of the book will be underwater photography and takes place on the bottom of the sea, which is funny since Joya: AiR is basically a desert. But when you walk around there long enough and squint your eyes once in a while it can start to look like the bottom of the ocean!

Happy holidays,

Toon Jans

www.toonjans.com

In 2001, Toon Aerts (°1977) graduated with honours from the Sint Lukas film school in Brussels on presentation of the shortfilm "Dialing the Devil". His shortfilm, a gritty 70’s style roadmovie, won numerous national and international awards like the Leuven Kort Festival (BE), Het Grote Ongeduld (BE), Courtisane (BE), 3rd Pixie Awards (USA) and the Golden Sheaf Awards (CAN).

Toon then signed up with production company CZAR to direct commercials. He had a blitz start and quickly directed for the most creative agencies in Belgium, including Duval Guillaume Brussels, Mortierbrigade, Famous, TBWA, Saatchi & Saatchi, etc..

His work didn’t go unnoticed in the Netherlands either, where he directed a campaign for the Amsterdam agency KesselsKramer for the Dutch mobile phone operator Ben. In 2002 Toon received The Young Directors Award for this commercial at the annual ADCN. He has since shot commercials for EA Games, Duyvis, Lipton Ice Tea, KPN, Ikea, Telfort, The International Film Festival of Rotterdam, Planet Internet and many others. The Asics commercial he shot won a bronze and a silver award on the Cannes edition of 2005.

But Toon always continued doing other projects as well. And music has always been his first love. Not only did Toon direct numerous music videos for Belgian bands like The Sore Losers, Millionaire, Mon-O-Phone, El Guapo Stuntteam and Fence. He also photographed a lot of these bands. For instance, he shot the cover of the Sore Losers album and did the promotional photography for Hickey Underworld, Fence, Mad About Mountains, Mon-O-Phone, Vandal X and the Vermin Twins.

The music video "Back From The Grave" won the prize for best music video at the 2009 edition of the Belgian Shortfilmfestival "Leuven Kort", was shown at the bi-monthly BUG Music Video Festival in London and was selected for the Mirrorball section of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. More recently, Toon directed his first international music video for the infamous Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, resulting in a classic mini-horror movie that’s not meant for the weak of heart…

Since 2012, Toon got a taste of being onstage himself, as he joined The Sha-La-Lee’s as a bassplayer. This band, containing members of The Sore Losers, El Guapo Stuntteam, Evil Superstars, Millionaire and Noordkaap, plays a contagious mix of 60’s garage and classic rock. The Sha-La-Lee’s already supported international top-acts like The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Datsuns and The Rival Sons and have been coined a “cult supergroup” by the Belgian press. They are planning to release their first album in March 2014.

Toon’s long awaited shortfilm Perfect Drug had it’s premiere at the 2012 Leuven Kort Short Film Festival. Perfect Drug, best described as a mind boggling experience, created quite a buzz in the national press and has won the Grand Prize at the BIFF and the Meliès d’Argent at the Imagine Film Festival. The film now continues it’s succes abroad where it recently won the prize for “Weirdest Film” at the Knoxville Horror Filmfestival. So keep your eyes peeled for a screening near you..

Toon's work, being it his films or his photos, are characterised by a strong visual style. His work clearly refers to elements of popular culture like horror movies, sci-fi, 70's exploitation or television series. Toon likes images that are loud, colorful, larger than life and over-the-top. Toon tries to intigue the viewer, to capture his attention and more importantly show the viewer the way he likes to look at reality ...

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / guest residency co-ordinator / Nicole Gilbert / GBR

"I was at Joya arte + ecología / AiR for three months, and in that time, I lived slowly in a community of people from around the globe to make art, share beautiful food, explore, play, exchange ideas and conversation. Joya: AIR is a residency for interdisciplinary artists and sustains the stewardship and regeneration of the local ecosystem. It treads lightly on the land and gives back through water re-capture and rewilding.

I've found the Joya: AiR philosophy simple. Follow your interests and passions. Create, support and share with others. Leave the world a better place because you lived here."

Nicole Gilbert

Nicole Gilbert received her Bachelor's degree in Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. While at Sheffield, she developed an interest in the aesthetics of the everyday, environmental ethics and phenomenology. Developing these threads, Nicole gained a Master of Arts in Urban Design and Planning, before spending four years as an environmental consultant in UK communities, investigating the possibility of local futures where traditional systems, are woven with art and ecology to create sustainable communities removed from the dominant paradigm.

Nicole has departed from consultancy and is currently developing her own creative practice using mixed materials embedded in place. She would like to continue working and creating in reflective spaces that bring people together with the land, to find new ways of living.

photo Sophie Gibbings

Joya: AiR / Gabrielle Kroese / NED

“I have experienced my stay at Joya: AiR as an enormous wealth of time and focus. I worked on a concept  that has been in my head for some time, but that I never really had the time to actually implement. For some time now I have wanted to investigate whether it is possible to make my own color dictionary based on a specific place.

During this residency I captured 66 different colors in 33 color capsules based on the immediate vicinity of Joya. Together they reflect the colours of the magical landscape to form Joya's own colour dictionary.

And aren’t they beautiful!

It inspires me to explore and investigate it further. It's just a start…

Thank you Simon and Donna; you made the most beautiful bubble of focus and inspiration at Joya: AiR. Sophie and Lauren for managing everything so smoothly. Kevin for making sound to my colours. And all the others that I met for your company, talks and inspiration: Jenny, Simone, Romy, Alma, Lisa, Alessa, Kaitlin, Hannah and Maria”.

Gabrielle Kroese

Gabrielle Kroese is an artist, colour hunter and photographer with a  vegetable garden. Her artistic practice involves painting, photography, (self)publishing, slow-watching and colour research.

https://www.gabriellekroese.nl/

IG gabriellekroese

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Emily Zadoretzky / USA

“The warmth of Joya lingers, long after my feet have touched home soil.

I am filled with gratitude, for the opportunity to be in this place and with this place, for the water, especially in times of drought, for the land and the found community. I am so grateful to Donna and Simon, for their hospitality and how they hold space for artistic exploration and presentation of ideas and work. I found the whole atmosphere and experience of my time at Joya to be wonderfully welcoming and generous.

My work and practice is very much materials-based and rooted in process, with a focus on sustainability and circularity. For my time at Joya, I brought very little with me in terms of supplies; I immersed myself in a sense of the place and explored the grounds, hills, soils, flora, fauna, wind, air, scents and sense of stillness. It was as if time slowed down. I was able to sit and just be; I let the place wash over me and guide me.

Through walks, hikes, and meandering strolls, I gathered soils, bits of charcoal leftover from fires, olive fruit, sticks, stems, fallen plant debris, and sap oozing from pine trees. I observed, I ground things up, I played. I experimented with making tempera paints mixing earth pigments with egg yolk as a binder, painting Joya-inspired motifs. I gathered up bits of plants to create a weaving, utilizing water saved from my shower to soak the plant materials before pouring it over parched bamboo.

Notions of kinship, explored in my practice, were abundant at Joya. Echos were found in the gift of each absolutely delicious meal, graciously prepared by Donna every evening. Such a luxury. Echos were found in the cooperative atmosphere of after-dinner clean-up, the sharing of wine and observations, of walks and hikes and evening star-gazings or gatherings around the fire. Nothing was wasted. Resources were shared. Mindfulness was ample.

As my residency neared its end I felt a bittersweet and simultaneous longing for home and family coupled with a feeling that I was about to leave a new home. Joya’s warmth had flowed into my heart. I am so grateful”.

Emily Zadoretzky

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Eline Boon / BEL

I firmly believe in the intersection of Art & Science as a catalyst for change, enabling us to confront the complex challenges of our time. Through my writing, I aim to dismantle barriers, ignite fresh perspectives, and address pressing issues that demand our attention. Too often, discussions about change unfold in secluded ivory towers, silencing many voices. My objective is to disrupt this exclusivity by serving as a translator, making complex issues and scientific concepts accessible to all through clear language.

During my residency at Joya: AiR, I was fully immersed in writing. The tranquil environment, supportive community and inspiring hosts, Simon & Donna, provided the perfect backdrop for me to focus on my work. Nestled in the mountains, surrounded by nature and inspiring individuals, I experienced a profound sense of alignment and was brimming with creative inspiration.

Eline Boon

Climate Fiction Writer & Policy expert looking into the role of public policy and legislation to accelerate systemic change, based in Brussels.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Pauliina Haasjoki / FIN

For fourteen days, from my arrival to my departure in Simon's jeep, I did not leave the valley. I saw Velez Blanco and the slopes, fields, shapes winding, rising and falling on the way over, then I saw them again in reverse. In between I saw only what was gathered into the valley bowl. This consistency only hit me afterwards: this staying put. Day trips are fun, sure, to take a break, to stretch the connection, snap it, return to it, but that was not what I did. I scraped the surface, a little bit, then more, felt smoothnes and sharpness, detail, vast patterns (like clouds, like celestial bodies). I could have kept on doing that. Crouching on dry powdery clay, holding an almond against a flat rock and knocking it with another, picking up the almond pieces from the clay rubble with my dusty fingers. Observing a dog's movement, becoming aware of the dog's observing gaze, her intention: to communicate, to be let in. Stealthily leaving my shutters open so I could be awaken by dawn. My book Valenssi, whom I tend to personify in these last stages, lingered in sunny or sheltered spots much like I did, moved a little and ate heartily. It was a good match. I'm happy I stayed put.

Pauliina Haasjoki

Pauliina Maarit Haasjoki was born in Ulvila, Western Finland. Now resides and works in Helsinki as a full time writer.
PhD in Finnish literature, University of Turku, 2012
Member of independent publishing co-op Poesia
Member of the Union of Finnish Writers

Author of ten books of poetry, the latest Nausikaa (2022), Promessa (2019) and Planeetta (2016) all published by Otava (https://otava.fi/kirjat/nausikaa/) Author of essay book Himmeä sininen piste (2019), published by Poesia (https://poesia.fi/teokset/himmea-sininen-piste/)

Upcoming: Filigraania, a chapbook, Poesiavihkot (November 2023)

Other recent work and collaborations include
Lomittaislaulu ("Interlock Song"), a text and movement performance with Pääsky Miettinen, Turku Poetry Week (Nov 2023)
Agreements (2022), a text commisioned by artist duo IC 98 for their site spesific work Luonnotuhopuisto ("Park of Natural Destruction", an abandoned iron mine)

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Tracy Mabois / UK

'' Although I spent only two weeks at Joya AiR, my time there was truly transformative.  It felt like I was there for a year, and in that space of evolution, not just as an artist but as a person, I saw a new path open up before me, one that tied all of my questions and ideas together and brought forth new perspectives, and in some cases, answers. 

I came from London, UK, into this new environment concerned about time and productivity, leaving the space inspired to take each day as it came.  Joya AiR was the place that helped me nurture the seeds of developing insight into blooming visual projects. 

Tracy L Mabois 

@31stworld 

Tracy L.M. specializes in conceptual portraiture of various natures in photography.  With her personal projects evolving around the exploration and documentation of her journey into self-discovery through a spiritual lens, she is known for her innovative approach to capturing the raw emotions of her subjects, including their hidden characteristics. Her expertise is also in colour grading and postproduction, adding a unique touch to every image she produces.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Maja Štefančíková / Slovakia

Arriving at Joya: AiR was significant for me, as I came with the purpose of exploring the correlation between human will and action with atmospheric phenomena. I planned to have the opportunity to observe the spectacle of clouds every day and to devote myself to artistic research. But not every plan or intention can be realized and fulfilled. Only the first two days I encountered the sky covered with isolated, dense clouds with sharply defined edges, which is characteristic of cumulus. But then an unusual phenomenon occurred in January, when temperatures rose by more than 10 degrees, the wind stopped, and the sky turned into a monotonous blue expanse. Suddenly there was nothing to observe in the sky.

Cloud formation is subject to many factors. My study primarily deals with the movement of air, which is one of the key elements in the formation of clouds and drives atmospheric dynamics. However, if the sky is clear and cloudless, then what do I study? This question led me to think about the mutual interactions between myself and the environment in which I find myself. In this artistic research, movement is a key element that defines wind and forms cloud shapes. In a clear sky where there are no clouds, the question becomes: how do you move and exist without creating movement?

Maja Štefančíková

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Nathaniel Marchand / CAN

“I spent most of my days at Joya: AiR with my camera in hand, exploring the terraced fields of the surrounding almond farms and the rugged foothills of Parque Natural Sierra María - Los Vélez. At once tranquil and full of splendor, the natural backdrop provided space for reflection and inspiration. I pondered the natural colours available in the region, from the earth pigments, to the possible hues that one could yield from the orange lichen on the almond trees, or the acorn caps of the kermes oaks. Rosemary, thyme, and almond hulls were gathered and steeped into eco-developers for my rolls of film - a recipe I only successfully concocted weeks after my time in residence.

In contrast to the solitude of my days, my evenings were filled with delicious food prepared by our hosts, as well as convivial and critical conversations with my fellow artists-in-residence. As much as I benefited from the time for contemplation and experimentation, I also appreciated the opportunity to engage in discourse regarding creative processes, ecology, and journeys of self-discovery”.

Nathaniel Marchand

Nathaniel Marchand (Métis/Franco-Canadian) is an interdisciplinary artist and educator whose artistic practice involves exploring relationships to the land and the use of natural materials. Through collage, sculpture, photography, video, audio, performance and installation, he investigates environmental policy, ethnobotanical histories and natural phenomena. An advocate for community and creativity, he frequently facilitates intergenerational and cross-cultural collaborative programs and workshops ranging from eco-arts to new media.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AIR / Polly Hummel / GER

Already the journey to Joya: AiR it’s a wonderful experience: mountains everywhere, almond and olive trees, small cafés. Silence dwells in the valleys, the almond trees have just awoken and the bright, dry earth glows like snow in the moonlight, It’s January, the nights are cold, the day begins in fog and the sun joins us at our coffee break in the late morning. During the day, everyone does their own thing and in the evening we tell each other stories by the fire, stories from Uruguay, Canada, Chile, Italy, England, Belgium and Slovakia. Nobody knows each other and yet we immediately feel at home. It's this wonderful place and the art that sustains us. 

I am a photographer, I have been inspired by this place for new projects and I have continued working on my ongoing project with the topic "Conspiracy". Somehow this also fitted into the barren, desert-like and remote landscape.  

As Donna cooked delicious meals for us every evening, food was always available, it was possible to immerse myself completely in my art. I locked myself in the photo lab, went hiking, did yoga, set up the tripod with my old camera, did photo shoots with the others, sat with Stijn under his almond tree and philosophized about life. It was fantastic! 

And again and again the silence in this place, you can't hear a word. NOTHING. Really! Just the occasional notes that Brigid's violin played on the white fields.

Polly Hummel

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Stijn Brinkman / NED

Coming to Joya: AiR, I didn’t know how to label myself as ‘artist’, whatever that might be. I didn’t bring my violin, nor did I bring my laptop. I came with just one pair of pants (that got torn on the bus to Vélez-Rubio), my binoculars, a cheap sound recorder, a notebook, and enough writing material.

Already on the second day, I felt how deep my relationship with this place and with the group became. Within such a small time, I felt such a strong connection to some of the fellow residents, and to the landscape full of non-human life around us. Getting to know the place as an individual embedded in a warm, caring group (and embedded in a timeline where hundreds of artists were inspired by the same place), became an intimate journey. I befriended an almond tree, melted my body into the softness of the cliffs, wrote a letter to a stone, and walked, walked, walked.

After all, I still couldn’t label myself as artist: these labels would fall short to the open-ended, touching, enriching experience that I had at Joya:AiR. What was most important to me, was the process of becoming close with my fellow residents and the place around us. By sharing this landscape together, I learnt about our bodies and skins, about crossroads of time, about movement. Big thanks to Simon and Donna for providing this opportunity to so many people, I hope I can come back one day!

Stijn Brinkman

After graduating his Bachelor of Russian Studies, his Bachelor in History and his Bachelor of Music (Classical Violin), Stijn Brinkman finished his Master studies in New Audiences Innovative Practice in Reykjavík, Iceland. He developed several projects to question our relationship with our surroundings by extending his performance art with interdisciplinary, site-specific approaches. He has played in hospitals, refugee centers, prisons, and other social institutions with different ensembles in The Netherlands.

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Letitia Despina / ROM

For the first two days at JOYA I kept thinking que ho hecho yo para merecer eso? I woke up in the middle of the night and went to look out the window, the small, low-placed window, and got scared by how bright the stars were, I had not seen them this way in a million years. Star-tled, for real.

I woke up every morning to beautiful nothing, birds, but quiet, hilltops and mountaintops and olivetreetops. I wondered if I stayed there for a year would I be at risk of forgetting everything around? Would I ever come to miss anything or anyone? I wondered how long it would take me to learn the animals and the plants and the seasons, how long till i grasped how many hours walking some distant, but visible valley was?

It wasn't just the surroundings, it was also the people and those brief but powerful connections. I realised all over again why it is so important and beautiful (this word rarely makes sense, but it does here) to find oneself in one’s own creativity, without aesthetic constraints, without artificial boundaries.

I’m still breathing sometimes in that rhythm: freedom as a constant move, not a plateau, not a fixed stage, not a place you get to and get comfy, but going and going, getting scared, getting uncomfortable, the rhythm in flow, out of breath, but full of life.

When I left I was in that soft spot where there was only a thin layer between the world and my tears, not sad, just full of feeling. I had a good cry, because it was such a pivotal experience and what didn’t come out through typing it all down in words, or through the soles of my feet walking on rocks and sandy soil, or through the tips of my fingers touching and holding rocks and trees and treasures, needed to get out through the salt water exit.

I’m saying thanks forever, but this tear is baroque.

Letitia Despina

Letitia also has a book shop in Copenhagen

@SUPeR.cph

http://supertimebooks.com

@supertimebooks

Photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Sarah Villeneau / GBR

“Joya: AiR was a magical place - the dramatic landscape, the silence, the remoteness and the vast skies connected me to the earth in a way that took me back to the freedom of my childhood roaming the countryside in upstate New York. I went to Joya with the idea of having time out and recuperation after a very busy year, and to pursue a new direction in my work - sculpting with found materials and to maybe build a small woodfiring kiln - a minigama.

As it happened, I found myself drawn back, as ever, to clay - with wild clay and timber all around, exploring age-old ceramic processes emerged organically as a seamless connection to the environment and a sustainable and productive legacy to contribute to the residency. Not to mention the problem solving along the way - firing the kiln in the wood-fired boiler, rather than in the open, due to high winds and fire risk, was not my original plan, but was thrilling and frightening in equal measure.

Simon and Donna have created a beautiful home and a relaxed, comfortable, easy-going set up, with delicious meals. It was also wonderfully special to meet and share ideas with people from all over the world, with different disciplines, backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints but a shared commitment to exploration, experimentation and the environment.

I look forward to returning one day soon!”

 Sarah Villeneau is a British sculptor working mainly in clay.