Joya
An adventure in magnitudes and minutia. Like The Powers of Ten, Joya lets you know just how small you really are. There’s a clarifying silence that swaddles the valley and abates the limits of your senses. Gazing through the horizon, depth is abstract, shapes of greens, blues, greys and subtle pinks mix, float, and flatten. In July the Sun commands. There’s a tempo to align with as the rhythm of the day is gripped by the heat. Cool mornings offer the landscape and the possibility to traverse the barranco below or engage with studio practice. Come midday it seems the world has paused. As the sun sets beyond the mound, the wind picks up and a calm has come to the day. It is this feeling of tranquilidad that I left Joya with and now attempt to maintain as I’ve returned home to New York City.
I went to Joya without intention. I sought to decompress, slow down, process, and gain awareness and experience for how it is possible to live and thrive with climate consciousness on remote depopulated land and simultaneously give back to that land. Simon and Donna have breathed life into a place that saw past generations walk away from, their cortijo is the nucleus of a climate positive enclave that welcomes a diverse group of creatives into an intimate setting. Without distraction I made watercolors, pencil and pen drawings, clay and driftwood sculptures, and transformed some old bamboo shades into piles of lattice I then wove into sculptural forms. I slept well, wrote, read, and shared stories and healthy “Ricisima” meals with my cohort, it was an invaluable experience and I am incredibly grateful to Simon and Donna for their relaxed spirits and jovial gracious hospitality.
Eric Araujo - estadounidense/Nueva York
AiR: July 10-24th, 2023