Joya: AiR / Rachel Kenny / IRE

“On my first day at Joya: AiR, I remember walking a simple path and feeling a force within stopping me. The landscape and environment had captivated me from that moment and every day thereafter. I had never heard the sound of the wind through the trees, like a whisper, before. I had never heard a silence that felt like the antithesis of empty. My eyes watered as I thought to myself, I am home.

It is truly one of the great blessings of my life to have been able to call this place my temporary home, for a short while. I returned to Ireland a different person and artist.

When you are cut off from society in the ways that we were - through location and the limitations of technology - the distractions of the modern world are no longer there. I had forgotten what it was like to get to know a stranger wholly. I know some of the people I spent my time with here, better than I knew peers who I’d spent years alongside. I miss them dearly.

I’ve been trying to capture the essence of this place for some time and words have been failing me. I decided to follow the example of an author whose name I forget now, and use my senses instead.

It smelled like fresh, vibrant lavender and sandalwood. It sounded like the hum of a hundred wasps. It tasted like (0%) cans of beer, Spanish Pisto and olives. It felt like dust in my eyes and nostrils, sweat dripping down my calves and scorching sunlight on my arms. It sounded like piano music and the echoes of laughter in the next room. I wrote on my last day, “I am so happy in this moment. It’s hard to believe life can be this beautiful”.

Thank you Simon and Donna, I am indebted to you forever”.

Rachel Kenny (She/her)
Visual Artist
Supported & Funded by Arts Council Ireland and Design and Crafts Council Ireland.

https://www.fluxdublin.ie/
https://graphicstudiodublin.com/
https://rachelkennyworks.com/

Simon Beckmann10 October 2025