THE HAPPIEST PLACE

“My dad bought an island in the Calaguas. The water was so clear you could see the bottom, and the sand was as white a sugar. And we’d spend our summers there… it was the happiest place.” (y.at/🏖️🌊🐚❤️☀️) In his groundbreaking series of of Yat Art, Skye Nicolas introduces a distinctive approach to storytelling in being the first to integrate yats as an integral component of the artwork. He takes us back to his childhood roots—words and phrases inhabit the field of view like memory fragments, floating over a digital collage comprised of personal photos. Each vignette is embedded with a voice recording, in which the artist shares his memories of a specific place. Intimacy is amplified as yats (a unique combination of emojis that function as a domain), point to specific locations on Google Maps; where viewers may explore the locale, adding depth and a viscerally emotional layer to the narrative. This innovative use of yats as an interactive element to the artwork, not only typifies Nicolas’ exploration of new digital media as a medium, but also delineates his pioneering development of the artform.