Joya: AIR / Polly Hummel / GER

Already the journey to Joya: AiR it’s a wonderful experience: mountains everywhere, almond and olive trees, small cafés. Silence dwells in the valleys, the almond trees have just awoken and the bright, dry earth glows like snow in the moonlight, It’s January, the nights are cold, the day begins in fog and the sun joins us at our coffee break in the late morning. During the day, everyone does their own thing and in the evening we tell each other stories by the fire, stories from Uruguay, Canada, Chile, Italy, England, Belgium and Slovakia. Nobody knows each other and yet we immediately feel at home. It's this wonderful place and the art that sustains us. 

I am a photographer, I have been inspired by this place for new projects and I have continued working on my ongoing project with the topic "Conspiracy". Somehow this also fitted into the barren, desert-like and remote landscape.  

As Donna cooked delicious meals for us every evening, food was always available, it was possible to immerse myself completely in my art. I locked myself in the photo lab, went hiking, did yoga, set up the tripod with my old camera, did photo shoots with the others, sat with Stijn under his almond tree and philosophized about life. It was fantastic! 

And again and again the silence in this place, you can't hear a word. NOTHING. Really! Just the occasional notes that Brigid's violin played on the white fields.

Polly Hummel