Joya: AIR / Faiza Hasan / PAK - ENG

“Joya: AiR came to me at a time when I was feeling creatively stifled, when I needed the time and space to recharge and recuperate. Within a few hours of showing up, the dry, sparse almost lunar landscape, the intense heat, the rows of almond trees, the scent of wild mountain rosemary and thyme, all cupped within the towering mountains, made something relax inside me. I’d start the days with a trek in the mountains and valleys, when the sun had barely crested the horizon, through forests silent but for the chirrups of birds or a scurrying rabbit and was rewarded one day when a herd of Ibex, as startled by me as I was by them, thundered right past me.

My days were spent writing, the whup, whup of the wind turbine and the buzz of bees a comfort in the background, with siestas in the afternoons as the temperature soared. I’d bump into fellow artists in the kitchen over lunch and chat about what we’d worked on or complain about the lack of inspiration as Frida the dog padded up for cuddles. Evenings we gathered to watch the sun set behind the mountains, then tucked into one of Donna’s soul satisfying meals and talked late into the night about life, art and oddly enough - Jung. At night I’d go to sleep looking out of my window at a dome of glittering, star studded skies, one of the clearest I have ever seen.

My three weeks at Joya: AiR will stay with me for a long time. Not only did I manage to make great progress with my work, but I also met many fantastic artists, made many friends and felt that creative spark come back to life.

Faiza Hasan

Faiza Hasan has worked as a journalist for publications in the US and Pakistan, and has an MA in Journalism from Stanford University, an MA in Creative Writing from Cambridge University, and has been a contributor at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, as well as the San Miguel Writers’ Conference. She also trained as a chef at Le Cordon Bleu and ran a pop up restaurant in London, then a bistro in Windsor and an online macaroon store, which she had to shut down due to a chronic pain condition, Fibromyalgia. She writes short stories and has just finished writing her first novel, The Ties that Bind Us.

Simon Beckmann26 September 2023