Joya: AiR / Tash Kahn / ENG
photo Simon Beckmann
Joya: AiR / Tash Kahn / ENG
‘I like punctuation and I was looking forward to Joya: AiR being a sort of comma in my life, a pause in which to collect my thoughts and just be. And it was that and more. It was a place of total stillness and humbling landscape. A place of early-morning walks to ruined houses and coffee brewed to the sound of birds echoing down the kitchen chimney. A place of interesting conversations over delicious meals, and of many new friends.
I arrived without a plan and it took a while to settle into the new routine. My usual habit of ‘doing a Rauschenberg’ and walking around picking up other people’s rubbish was frustrated by the remote location and lack of colourful litter. Instead I collected rusty tin cans and old bits of wood, hauling them back to my studio for a series of ephemeral sculptures. I also took many Polaroids and failed at a big painting, but it didn’t matter. As the days went on all pressure disappeared and I relaxed into the ebb and flow of the new routine.
The total isolation was challenging at times, but it afforded a space to notice the little things – trails of busy ants creating lines through the dust, the ever-changing sky, and the light on the spinning wind turbine. The constantly-shifting dynamic as people came and went led to many wonderful connections and new collaborations. Thank you Donna and Simon for a wonderful experience.
Tash Kahn studied a BA in Fine Art at University of East London. She works with many mediums, constantly recycling and remaking, taking other people’s rubbish and making it her own. Kahn has exhibited both nationally and internationally, with a recent project at the Stone Space Gallery in east London that saw her collaborate with Alice Wilson for Talking Heads – an exhibition of artistic responses. Exhibitions include: Picture Palace (2020) Transition Gallery, London; Talking Heads (2019) The Stone Space, London; 2019 Sluice refresh, M100, Odense; Backyard Sculpture (2019) Domobaal, London; Modern Finance (2019) Thamesside Gallery, London; Citizen (2018) Swiss Cottage Gallery, London; The Mechanical Reproduction of Dust (2018) Stand4 Gallery, New York. In 2014, she co-founded the visual-arts project DOLPH, and has helped facilitate 22 exhibitions, making partnerships with two London schools, as well as universities including UAL Wimbledon and The Royal College of Art, and numerous artists in the UK, New York and Berlin. DOLPH provides an alternative way for the community to engage with art, as well as being an invaluable learning resource. She is also an editor for Penguin and Sluice Magazine, and has given many lectures both at home and abroad.