photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Caroline Areskog Jones / GBR

“To become immersed in the landscape, to observe where the light falls, where the flow of water draws its course, to listen to how the wind absorbs the sounds of the wild takes time.

By spending 7 days at Joya: AiR I took the welcome opportunity to broaden my senses, and the stark contrast to an urban life created an atmosphere where the days seemed to quietly lengthen.

Drawing as a means to investigate and map a space is fundamental to my rhizomatic practice. The freedom to explore the surrounding topography allowed me to capture an archive of visual and sonic field recordings to develop over time , whilst learning about its agregarian background and current project of conservation . Returning to the studio I created a collective of ‘field studies’ on paper using various textures, marks, methods and materials to eliminate the stark white of the surface. A body of work as initial responses to being in the land evolved , responding to the ecological patinas experienced or describing artefacts discovered whilst wandering.

Evenings provided a chance to gather and enjoy a sense of community and kindness, hosted so generously by co-founders and hosts Simon and Donna”.

Caroline Areskog Jones

Areskog Jones has a background in contemporary dance and physical therapy. Art Foundation, Distinction (1996) at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (UAL), London and BA(Hons) Fine Art 1st class CSM (2004) part time whilst raising 2 sons. MA Print : Royal College of Art (2019). Variety of group exhibitions, including Breathworks, MOMA Oxford (2020), Fragile Ocean (2019), MA Show RCA(2019), 'Eyes of Many Kinds' Southwark Park Gallery (2019). Upcoming to include ThroughObjects 'Nature Inspired' , Woolwich Print Fair, 'If only the sea' San Mei Gallery*. Residencies: Hospitalfield (Oct 2021)* Wild Islands, Hebrides (2019) Orleans House Gallery(2016). Moving image work :'World of Light' Auckland University of Technology(2021)* "Poetry and Culture Film Festival' Copenhagen (2021)*, Montreal Independent Film Festival (2021), Next Thing Moving Image Award (finalist) 2019. Signature Prize (finalist) 2019, Stanley Picker Tutorship (shortlist) 2019, Sheila Shloss Award Printmakers Council (2019), Szuzi Roboz Scholarship (2017), Charitable Arts Award (2016). Articles for Venti Journal (2021) *IMPACT print journal (2020), Pluralist (2019) - *in development or imminent

photo Simon Beckmann

Joya: AiR / Nadège Mériau / FRA

‘When I arrived at Joya: AiR, I was struck by the lack of sound and light pollution (with nights so clear you feel closer to the stars) and an unusual sense of stillness. The light was almost too bright, sunsets almost too unbearably colourful and the singing of insects and birds almost too loud. The biodiversity there was so rich it felt like an assault to the senses. There was an instant feeling of joyful connection to the place.

So on I went, recording sounds on my walks every morning and evening, breathing and listening attentively. But what took me by surprise was the work I did in response to the beautiful studio space I was allocated. Somehow I felt I had to inhabit this space, and time, which I had been given. First I became fascinated by the resident insects and the sound they made as they went about their daily business, then I started to look at the view and the play of light flooding in through the window at different times of the day. I filmed it all, and spontaneously began to perform in front of the camera, which was something I had not planned.

If in the Night it Rains Tomorrow / Nadège Mériau

I enjoyed the natural structure imposed by the changing light and temperature. It was simply too hot to go out in the middle of the day and this provided time to rest and review what I had recorded and filmed in the morning.

The evening meals and talks with other artists provided stimulating exchanges and encouraging feedback on the new directions my work was taking.

I had intended to explore issues of care, self-care and medicine in relation to nature, technology and the arts by immersing myself in the wild environment, recording my embodied experience of the land (through film, photography and sound), exchanging with other artists, and reconnecting with Europe, after a long period of isolation. I did just that, and more’.

Nadège Mériau

Nadége completed an MA in Photography at the Royal College of Art in 2011 and was shortlisted for the Bloomberg New Contemporaries and the Conran Award in 2011, nominated for the Arts Foundation Fellowship and the Arles Discovery Award in 2012 and the Prix Pictet 2014. In 2016, she produced a participatory sculpture and an artist film for The Aylesbury As Home exhibition at the Geffrye Museum, with the support of Queen Mary University and the Leverhulme Trust. In 2020 , she was commissioned to make a short artist film and stills work for Nothing To Look But The Past, Tulca Arts Festival, with the support of Arts Council Ireland and Galway City of Culture 2020. Other recent shows include Fire: Flashes to Ashes in British Art 1692-2019, RWA Bristol, Auto//Fiction, Exhibition and Symposium, Dyson Gallery, Royal College of Art 2019, 209 Women at Portcullis House, Houses of Parliament and Impressions Gallery, Bradford 2019. Recent publications include xviii, stories of Tulca, Tulca publishing, 2021, SPUD published by Deirdre O’Mahony, Rot issue of The Learned Pig, curated by Julia Cavicchi, and Fire: Flashes to Ashes in British Art 1692-2019, Sanson & Company.

photo Simon Beckmann

‘During my residency at JOYA: AiR I created a new series of sculptures and interventions that aimed to explore new forms of agency and awareness within my artistic practice. The works, inspired by ancestral Iberian material culture, unravel potential reinterpretations of ritual power, archaeological heritage, national identity and cultural appropriation.

JOYA’s land and ecological knowledge encouraged me to create artworks that reflect on the permeable boundaries that define our world and the larger-than-human dimension that defines it. For five weeks I explored the role that materiality can play in the negotiation and production of authenticity, identity, myth and place, acknowledging this land as the complex network of reciprocal interdependence that it truly is.

I also followed the footsteps of “El Corro y el Rosao”, two (con)artists from the nearby town of Totana who in the early 1900s, inspired by local archaeological discoveries, sold hundreds of ‘fake’ artefacts to collectors and institutions all over the world —including the Louvre and the British Museum. I was privileged to spend a few days in Totana working with local potters, giving shape to new works while combining history, legend, beliefs and my own personal expectations.

At the end of my residency I decided to honour this land by making a ritual offering at a pre-historic cave in the Parque Natural de Sierra María-Los Vélez. Eight sculptures were carefully placed inside the cave: sentinels of local spirits and deities, expressions of an ancestral knowledge that is real and imaginary at the same time’.

Jorge Mañes Rubio

Artist / TED Fellow / Watch his TED talk here go.ted.com/jorgemanesrubio

Based in Amsterdam, Jorge graduated in Design Products from the Royal College of Art London in 2010. He is also co-founder of the Design Museum Dharavi, a TED Senior Fellow and a recipient of the S&R Foundation Washington Award. He has recently collaborated with the European Space Agency on a pioneering project revolving around the future colonisation of the Moon, turned into a thought provoking TED talk.

photo Simon Beckmann

“My residency at Joya: AiR was supported by the Grantham Art Prize, an award from the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Royal College of Art. I had proposed to make spinach anthotypes of the B46 Iceberg that has become detached from the Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica. The detachment of this iceberg will contribute to rising ocean levels and is a clear indicator of warming in the polar regions. Some of these images were created by the NASA Earth Observatory, a satellite which monitors the Earth from space”.

Melanie King

“As part of the Grantham Art Prize, I wanted to draw attention to this tragic and monumental event, highlighting the rupture point where the iceberg departed. Instead of using environmentally damaging photographic process, I used the spinach anthotype process and sunlight at Joya Arte and Ecologica, to bleach the image into existence.  To make an anthotype, you blend spinach leaves into a paste with a small amount of vodka and water. The next step was to strain the paste into a thin liquid, which can then be painted onto watercolour paper”.

Melanie King

“I built up three layers of “paint”, leaving each layer to dry between each coat. At Joya, I placed a positive transparency of the NASA Earth Observatory images of the B46 Iceberg on top of the coated paper, clamped underneath a heavy piece of glass. After four hours of strong sunlight, I was left with an image due to the naturally photosensitive properties of the chlorophyll within the spinach. Within the exhibition at Imperial College London, the anthotypes will slowly fade with time, mirroring the fragility of our natural environment”.

“At Joya: AiR, I was particularly struck by the dryness of the landscape,  apparently the driest landscape in Europe. Unexpectedly, I was drawn to photographing the dusty, pale limestone ground as it resembled the surface of the Moon. Out taking photographs of the stars at night, I imagined standing within a lunar landscape observing the cosmos”.

Melanie King

Melanie King

“I was inspired by the sustainable attitude to building and adapting to the local environment. Simon says that the building is 98% carbon neutral, due to the clever use of solar and wind energy production. Waste from the building is filtered into reed beds, meaning that this waste doesn’t enter the landscape. It was also interesting to hear from Simon about his plans to regenerate the land surrounding Joya: AiR, and how the introduction of culture to the area may help to re-cultivate land that has been abandoned”.

Melanie King

“Due to the remote, quiet location of Joya: AiR, I was extremely productive during my six day residency. I created anthotypes, had plenty of solitude for writing towards my PhD, took analogue photos of the stars for my “Ancient Light” series, went on many restorative walks and even had room for unexpected projects that I hadn’t planned”.

Melanie King

Melanie King is an artist and curator with a specific focus on astronomy.  She is co-Director of super/collider, Lumen Studios and the London Alternative Photography Collective.  She is a lecturer on the MA programme at the Royal College of Art, and on the BA Photography course at University of West London. Melanie is a part time doctoral student at the Royal College of Art. 

Melanie's solo exhibitions include Leeds Art University and the Blyth Gallery, Imperial College London. She has exhibited in group shows at The Photographers' Gallery, Argentea Gallery, Guest Projects, Space Studios and the Sidney Cooper Gallery. Melanie has also exhibited in a wide range of international galleries, such as the Williamson Gallery in Los Angeles, CAS Gallery in Japan and Unseen Amsterdam.  Melanie has attended residencies organised by Bow Arts, Grizedale Forest and SIM Reykjavik, Iceland.

Melanie has been involved in a number of large scale commissions, including Green Man Festival, Vivid Projects, Bompas and Parr X Citizen M Hotel,  Mayes Creative, Design Miami x COS Stores, Chelsea Flower Fringe and the Wellcome Trust.

Melanie regularly presents her work at conferences, universities and galleries. Notable venues include the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Photographers' Gallery, Tate Modern, Art Center Pasadena, University of the Arts Helsinki, The European Geosciences Conference: Vienna, Kosmica: Mexico, Kosmica: Paris, Helsinki Photomedia and Second Home. Melanie has provided guest lectures to Bath Spa University, Leeds Art University, London South Bank University, London College of Communication,  Central Saint Martins International Space University: Space Studies Programme.

Melanie has demonstrated Moholy Nagy's photogram process on-screen for the BBC4 Bauhaus Rules documentary. Melanie has also provided an on-screen interview and telescope demonstration for the "She Takes The Night" film produced by Museum of London and Photofusion. 

Melanie also organises participatory workshops in relation to her practice. She has developed workshops for the TATE Modern, Whitechapel Gallery, The Photographers' Gallery, TATE Exchange, the Institute of Physics, East Street Arts, Kosmica: Mexico, SALT Festival: Norway,  London College of Communication Short Courses,  Photofusion, Phytology, Hackney Arts, Ditto Press and Brighton Photo Biennal. 

BELOW: more photographs from Melanie Kings ‘Ancient Light’ series of photographs taken at Joya: AiR…

Melanie King

Melanie King

Melanie King

Melanie King

Melanie King

photo Simon Beckmann

“I came to Joya: AiR at the beginning of a new phase in my life and in my creative practice. I am for the first time making artwork that is explicitly about myself and I wanted to use the opportunity of this residency in such a unique place to be both a contemplative and productive space to further explore this new autobiographical investigation.

When first hearing about Joya: AiR I was fascinated by its location in one of the sunniest regions in Europe and I wanted this to be an area of focus for my practice whilst here. I am interested in the idea of documenting and capturing the physical and psychological influence that such a place has had on me as a person and as an artist. I know that the sun and warmer climates can have a substantially positive impact upon my well being and subsequently my creative productivity.

Before I came to Joya: AIR I read a book by Linda Geddes called ‘Chasing the Sun’ which talks about how our biology is set up to work in partnership with the sun. From our sleep cycles to our immune systems and our mental health, sunlight is crucial for living a happy and fulfilling life. I find living in a light polluted world increasingly looking at my laptop screen either as part of my day to day life or art practice is having a negative impact. This recent default to use artificial aesthetics and digital methods to create artwork was something that I wanted to challenge whilst at the residency. Being at Joya: AiR has given me the space I needed to experience being creative in a physical place and to be in the moment, being here and working in the beautiful surroundings has greatly reduced my dependency on digital technology.

The landscape around Joya is breathtaking from the monumental hills to the colour of the soil to the wind blowing through the pines, it has made me want to slow down and truly observe everything around me. My two weeks at Joya was just what I needed, I have so many new ideas that have been formed here that I want to develop further. I have been able to play, see things in a new way and take risks with my work.

I am so grateful to Simon and Donna, the volunteers and all the artists for making Joya: AiR such a welcoming, inspiring and productive residency, it is truly a special place”.

Sarah Thomas

www.sarahthomasart.co.uk

"My time at JOYA: AiR was spent exploring, filming, writing and performing in the immense landscape that surrounds the beautiful house. I made a new work here, although writing this on the last night of the residency I cannot say what the work is – I have spent the entire time generating material and am yet to start editing, such is the reluctance to spend time in front of the screen. It is a fantastic environment for working and thinking, the seclusion offered by the national park is invaluable. Simon and Donna are excellent residency hosts, encouraging dialogue between residents but allowing everybody the time and space to develop their practices in the best way they see fit. Oh, and it is impossible to not mention Donna’s amazing cooking – I eagerly await a JOYA Recipe Book"!

Sam Williams

“The hot sun as my witness: blind sun, blond bones, bleeding hills – put thistles and mud on the wounds, roll in the dust like a coydog, scream into those anthills, run fast without looking, close those eyes, shut those curtains, high sun, high strung, big snakes in the road, big desert, big sky, clouds zoom by…”

David Wojnarowicz

Sam Williams is an artist filmmaker based in London, where he studied MA Sculpture / Moving Image at the Royal College of Art. He has shown work nationally at institutions such as Tate Britain, V&A, Sadler’s Wells, Outpost and Baltic39 and screened internationally in countries including Egypt, Russia, Germany and Norway. As part of the audio-visual group Emptyset he has performed across Europe and has shown collaborative works with Rosemary Butcher MBE at The Place, Nottingham Contemporary and Akademie der Künste (Berlin). He was awarded the Relax Digital Commission (2016) and the Stuart Croft Foundation Award (2017) and has been artist in residence at Baltic39 (Newcastle), Cité international des arts (Paris), JOYA AiR (Andalusia) and ArtHouse Jersey. This year he received an A-N Professional Development Bursary to initiate choreographic workshops for non-dance artists, writers and curators. Sam is a founding trustee of the Rosemary Butcher Foundation where he will help oversee the preservation and promotion of her archive and legacy.

www.sam-w.com