Joya: AiR / Taïs Bean / FRA

I came to Joya: AiR for the third time. There is a reason why this place and its people keep calling me back.  My mother always used to tell me “You have to have your head in the stars and your feet in the mud.” It takes hard work and realism, as well as optimism, generosity, courage and daring vision to be able to create a place like Joya. I find that these qualities make the spirit of this place, embraced by the vastness, beauty and peace of its magnificent natural environment. 

Spending time at Joya has, each time, been a beautiful human experience, a grounding remembering of the value of things I tend to take for granted, such as water, soil, fire, energy, and a tangible experience of human impact on nature.  

It is both sobering to witness the human led ecological crisis so clearly shaping this landscape, and it is equally inspiring to see Simon and Dona moving forward with visionary solutions while deeply listening to the land and culture they are interacting with. My time at Joya has always enriched my ecological understanding, in a way that is not disparaging, but rather inspiring and motivating.

I find that this setting makes for a space of focus and commitment to my practice, and a vast openness to dreaming and inspiration. Each time I’ve come to Joya, I have left realising that my practice was impacted in ways I couldn’t have anticipated. 

It pushes me to experiment, reflect, be present to my work, my senses and my vision in uniquely peaceful and rich ways. It promotes inspirational exchange with talented people with various practices and backgrounds. I always leave with a nurtured heart. 

I thought I would be working on my writing, and instead I ended up discovering that my black and white line drawing needed to move towards painting, and even find its way out of the paper on rocks, wood... and I was reminded of the importance of the materials I choose. For a long timeI didn’t dare to explore new materials with drawing, and now I feel inspired by a field of possibilities as vast as the horizon surrounding the Joya residency.

Taïs Bean