Joya: AiR / Yvette Monahan / IRE

photo Simon Beckmann

“Joya: AiR is a haven from life.

The air is pure, the stars are vivid, the landscape is wild and sparse.
The food is delicious and nourishing and there is always a coffee bubbling on the gas stove.
The studios are filled with a crisp light from windows that frame the almond trees. The rooms are simple yet beautiful.

I went to Joya: AIR to have a break from the everyday, to be able to think clearly.
It is a place that enables this, there is room to reflect, a chance to travel inward and just be.

The conversations with the other artists were profound, hilarious, educational and heart- warming. They helped me understand why I was making work with their generous and considered thoughts.

Simon and Donna have created a very special place and I am very grateful for their life- long effort. I can’t wait to return”.

Yvette Monahan

Yvette Monahan is an Irish photographic artist. Her practice looks to further her understanding of three main ideas, namely intuition, transcendence, and narrative. She engages with different processes to investigate these precepts, incorporating photography, drawing, and print-making. Yvette aims to create images that reflect the inner world and outer spaces.

In September 2019, Yvette traveled to Unseen Amsterdam to take part in the Futures program, a European Platform of Photography to amplify artists.
In May, Yvette exhibited Beyond the ninth wave as part of PhotoIreland 2019.
Beyond the ninth wave was initially made for TULCA 2017, it was exhibited alongside other artists including, Yoko Ono and Bob Quinn.
In 2018, Yvette was invited to create Octopolis for Winter Papers.
In 2015, her project The thousand-year-old boy won the Solas Ireland Award. It was exhibited in Dublin, Belfast, London, and Salzburg and then published by PhotoIreland in 2017 as part of New Irish Works.
In 2014, Yvette self-published The time of dreaming the world awake.
Yvette holds an MFA Photography from the University of Ulster and a BA Geography and Economics from Trinity.
She is currently studying for a diploma in Art and Design at NCAD.