Joya: AiR / Elisabetta Giromini / ITA

‘One of the hits of my stay at Joya: AiR has been the night thunderstorm. From my window I could see the lightning chasing each other and hear the thunder roaring in warning. The rain was pouring down and the wind whistled. I had left both windows open and I too was part of that storm albeit lying comfortably in my bed. This is the feeling that the two weeks in Joya: AiR have left me. Although I was in the middle of a storm in my personal life and in my imagination, I was in a safe place from which to observe what was happening around and inside me. Joya: AiR is a place of silence and void where you can find your own space for creation. The colours, the scents, the sounds, everything allows you to focus on yourself and your work while immersed in a delicate but stinging desert landscape. Simon and Donna favour this process in an extremely natural way, their presence is never intrusive. Watching the sunset in the evening with the other artists and the dog Frida, having dinner together and chatting made the experience even more enjoyable’!

Elisabetta Giromini

Elisabetta Giromini was born and lives in Milan. She graduated in Political Science in Rome and her studies in Vilnius and internships in the villas of Buenos Aires date back to that period. She continued her studies in International Relations in Brussels, graduating with a thesis on the health policies of the Central African Republic that led her to travel with a female doctor. Among the experiences in over sixty countries, the most significant routes by land: from Ushuaia to the Amazon River; Trans-Mongolian from St. Petersburg to Beijing; Iran from Tehran to the island of Hormuz.

Her main profession is writing and managing international research projects as a freelance. In 2020 she created the blog in-giro.com to tell stories of people and places. Her guide on Iran is forthcoming. Hybrid is her second novel.
"I recognize myself in nomadic thinking, in not being able to take root physically as well as mentally and emotionally in a specific place. I am fascinated by the identities that spread horizontally between multiple places like some mountain willows that do not grow in height, but on the surface of the rocks, expanding. So I imagine my growth, and the growth of my characters".