Joya: AiR / Inês Coelho da Silva / PRT
photo Simon Beckmann
Joya: AiR / Inês Coelho da Silva / PRT
“Coming directly from London to Veléz Blanco constituted a radical confrontation, as I constantly debated between the need to embrace the slowness of the desert and the capitalist speed of “doing” that the city imposed on me. It took me a few days to adjust, to stop nervously fidgeting during resting hours, to accept that there could be resting hours. When the land finally got me, and I was with the land, and the land was within me, I was transported to my roots in rural Portugal. The smell of hot summers, the perfect darkness after sunset, the almost absence of human sounds. I lived the memory of how my grandmother always wore an apron over her dress, in which she would keep all her most important things: her handkerchief, her rosary, scissors, house keys, a pencil, a pacifier for the children, some loose grains of sea salt (“You never know when you’ll feel hungry in the fields; if the tomatoes are ripe, you must carry some salt with you...”, she justified). I’ve made my own apron in Joya, but empty, to be filled with notes to remember and ideas I could need later. I walked around and took notes, embroidering on my apron (my slow notebook) plants I connected with and wished to research later. I’ve learned about/from/with endemic plants, travelling others, and the ecosystem that embraces them (us) all together. My apron is now accompanying me on further walks”.
Inês Coelho da Silva is an artist and researcher based between London and Porto. She graduated with an MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art in 2021 and is currently collaborating with the collective The Gramounce for the 2023-2024 Food and Art Alternative MA. Upcoming projects include the European research project SEEDS - Means for a Sustainable Art Practice (PT, ES, GR), and residencies at the Institute for Postnatural Studies (ES), La Foresta (IT), and Matadero Madrid: Centre for Contemporary Creation (ES).