The handcrafted giant joins protesters in defending Ibiza&rsquo;s fragile natural environment.

Before the advent of tourism in the 1960&rsquo;s, the only way to reach Ibiza was by boat from mainland Spain. In his island memoirs Ibiza &ndash; A World Forgotten, the architect Rolph Blakstad recalls his dawn arrival into the port of Ibiza, in 1956, via an overnight steamer ship from Alicante: &lsquo;The town itself was white, pyramidal, a terraced hill rising from the sea with tier upon tier of crystalline cubic houses&hellip; Beyond, ringing the whole bay, were mountain ranges of the kind you would imagine in a fairy tale. A kingdom in miniature.&rsquo;
But the slow, meditative seabound entry into Ibiza that had been so relished by Blakstad and countless other inquisitive foreigners of the era would steadily be replaced by the immediacy of air travel from 1966, when the island&rsquo;s airport opened itself to international traffic for the first time. For the next four decades, Ibiza&rsquo;s immaculately preserved traditional culture would increasingly become connected with the globalised world, one whose pace, rhythm, qualities and values were, in many respects, at complete odds with the sleepy, insular and richly<a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/ibiza/7-must-read-ibiza-books" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> folkloric culture</a> of the island, one which had remained largely unchanged for many centuries.

During 2022, over eight million passengers passed through the gates of Ibiza&rsquo;s miniscule airport, breaking all previous records. Of the total flights which touched down onto the asphalt, a staggering 19,618 were private jets, indicating an eight percent increase on the previous year and making Ibiza rank second in Spain for private air traffic &ndash; a form of transport universally acknowledged as producing significantly more CO2 emissions than any other, and one which is completely untaxed and unrestricted.
At the start of 2023, as Extinction Rebellion launches major new initiatives around the world to highlight the injustice of uncontrolled private jet use in the face of an imminent climate emergency, I spent several weeks crafting an enormous processional puppet to draw attention to the issue on our beloved, pine-forested, sweet-scented island base. Catalina was a three-metre tall payesa, a traditional countrywoman of Ibiza, and she took to the streets alongside Extinction Rebellion Ibiza during the February carnivals to defend local culture, traditions, rural heritage and ecology in the face of the damaging effects of globalisation, the cusp of which is represented in Ibiza&rsquo;s modern reputation as a European private jet hotspot.

Several decades ago, during the remodelling of Ibiza airport&rsquo;s runway, workers uncovered the remains of a Punic pottery centre dating back to the 2nd Century B.C. Amongst other findings excavated by the archaeologists, they unearthed fragments of ornate moulds used to stamp bread baked in the ovens there - forming part of a set of complex rites linking Ibiza&rsquo;s ancient crop cultivation, <a href="https://www.lofficielibiza.com/ibiza/five-of-the-best-ibiza-farm-shops" target="_blank" rel="noopener">food production </a>and the worship of the sacred deities of the time. Over two thousand years later, in July 2022, a private jet landed onto that same stretch of land every twelve minutes.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.theatreoftheancients.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Payesa Catalina</a>, with her stern face, giant fists and traditional dress, was crafted to transmit the message that an island which takes pride in its history, heritage and natural landscapes cannot also be an island playground for the irresponsible, harmful and short-sighted lifestyle habits of a privileged few. Catalina demands that we be mindful of our behaviour as visitors to this staggeringly beautiful ancient landmass, and respectful to the local heritage that, in the case of Ibiza&rsquo;s airport runway, lies right beneath our feet.
Joanna Hruby is an Ibiza-based visual artist, puppet-maker, performer and writer. She is the founder of <a href="https://theatreoftheancients.com/">Theatre of the Ancients</a> and the host of cultural and the host of the anthropological podcast, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-wells-of-tanit/id1466388274">The Wells of Tanit.&nbsp;</a>

Payesa Catalina: Ibiza's protest puppet

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