Yka is a visual project developed over 5,000 nautical miles aboard a 12-meter sailboat, older than I am — built in 1987 and shared with a diverse crew. Through these images, the project seeks to explore the relationship I’ve had — and that we, as humans, can have — with the sea: the blue mind, the notion of no-time, but also the physical and mental effort required to maintain a boat like this. That effort keeps us grounded in the present and leads to a meditative state. We repair sails, fix the engine, cook, clean, watch the clouds, and handle the sails. Time flows differently out there.
The sea, like a mirror, reflects the ever-changing sky. Being surrounded by blue — sky and sea merging into a liquid horizon — has a physical and emotional effect: it lowers the heart rate, reduces stress, and brings other things to the surface.
Depending on the wind challenges the pace imposed by a hyperproductive and consumerist society.
Sailing is an introspective process, but in our case, also a communal one: everything depends on teamwork, mutual care, and trust. Especially on Yka — an old boat, without luxuries, and on a tight budget. This way of life, immersed in a sea and sky that constantly shift, proposes another way of inhabiting the world — and perhaps, learning how to live in it.