Joya: AiR / Sofia Troncoso / CHL

Photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Sofía Troncoso / Chile

In the midst of a surreal landscape, that was too closely and too loosely similar to home, words bottled up over time started pouring over at great capacity in what could have been a drought.

The dried up almonds in the tree branches, the desert views, the accompanying sunrises all unveilied many mysteries onto my own person. I had to remind myself that this was growth: to take the own roots of my writing to an unfamiliar space and be able to return even more self assured of their capacity to root into whatever land I wanted them to grow. In an almost lunar space, in the clarity of my studio, in the whiteness of the walls, in the laughter of a friendly stranger, in any weather, my writing grew, germinated and developed into ways I had never predicted they could do before.

 I hold close to my heart what I did during my first artistic residency, the way it brought back the pulse of my own language and creativity, my droughts and my floods, as everything was done intertwined with the surroundings: the juxtaposition of the sparse landscape and the abundant life held in the heart of Joya.

Sofía Troncoso

Sofía Troncoso graduated with a degree in Arts and Humanities, major in Narrative and minor in Communications, and is currently pursuing a MA in Creative Writing. In 2022, she won the national Chilean writing award Roberto Bolaño, and in 2023 she published her first novel “Funerales”. She grew in desertic Antofagasta and is now based in urban Santiago de Chile.