Joya: AiR / Iana Mizguina / UK

It was a two-year-long wait for me to get to Joya: AiR after Covid travel restrictions. I had never been to Spain before, and I got first impressions of the fantastic landscape of the region on the journey from Granada to Velez Rubio. It was magical to catch the beautiful scenes of the Parque Nacional Sierra Nevada and its monumental mountains and hills during a 2.5-hour journey on the bus. A group of us were picked up from the town of Velez Rubio, and during the drive to the Cortijada Los Gázquez, I started noticing how remote the residency location was going to be. And I couldn’t wait to begin my two-week adventure.

It took me few days to fully comprehend how quiet the environment was. It must have been the most tranquil place I have ever been to. From day one, other artists and I started going for exploratory walks. These unique shared experiences were so crucial to developing my work at Joya that I couldn’t recommend them more.

Every day I took the absolute pleasure of working in a studio which was allocated to me. This spacious studio allowed me to make separate spaces for darkroom printing and a desk for working with digital files. I absolutely have to mention how much I enjoyed experiencing terrific views and saying hello to a goat, FouFou, every day on my way to the studio. The tranquillity of nature and lack of distraction allowed me to get 100% immersed in my work.

I came to Joya: AiR with somewhat a plan to develop work from a proposal I applied with a couple of years prior. However, I also decided to give myself the freedom to make work in response to the beautiful environment of Parque Natural Sierra María-Los Vélez. Therefore, I started to take field notes from every walk. Most of the time, I would walk with my camera. However if I did walk without the camera I would observe and absorb the details of the landscape.

Coming to Joya: AiR, one of my definite aims was to find a way to make work more sustainable and reduce the waste. I ended up working with a mint tea developer and fixed my prints in salt. I also used Caffenol to develop my B&W negatives. Being a messy alternative process enthusiast who doesn’t mind when things are inconsistent, I have thoroughly enjoyed letting go and introducing an element of chance to my photographic practice. It was even somewhat of a disappointment towards the end of my two-week residency, when I started achieving consistency with my printing.

Joya: AiR became a vital place to contemplate who I am as an artist and where my work is taking me. It was an excellent way to get a break from everyday commitments and immerse myself in reading and making. The experience made me think about my ambitions and gave me more courage. It was particularly inspiring to share work with other residents as we all came from different backgrounds, experiences, and media. Every night we would have a fantastic meal cooked by Donna, share a glass of wine, and talk about our work, lives and, most importantly, our daily experiences.

Huge thanks to Simon and Donna for being superb hosts and sharing the incredibly inspiring lifestyle at the Cortijada Los Gázquez with us’.

Iana Mizguina

Originally from Helsinki Finland, Iana studied Chemistry/Biochemistry in University of Turku for a few years before finally following a dream of studying art.
She has lived in UK from 2014 and graduated from BA Photography course in University for Creative Arts Farnham and graduated from MA Photography Arts University of Westminster. Apart from finishing her MA course she works/volunteers part-time in museums (V&A and Rural Life Centre) and is also a self-employed artist with a small studio in Farnham.
Recently she has been part of few group exhibitions outside university, including CLUSTER Photography&Print Fair in February in London, and also participated in collaborative project as part of Lishui Photo Festival in China in November 2017. In August 2019 she participated in Dartmoor Summer School of Photography week long residency.