Joan Jonas

Joan Jonas is a pioneer of performance and video art. Her work combines installation, sculpture, and drawing, often in collaboration with musicians and dancers to realize improvisational performances. Drawing on mythic stories from various cultures, Jonas injects texts from the past with the politics of the present. By wearing masks and drawing while performing on stage, she disrupts the conventions of theatrical storytelling to emphasize potent symbols and critical self-awareness. She experiments with various tools to draw; her depictions of animal forms seem almost accidental, yet they are the result of extensive practice. Jonas creates new narratives to address contemporary issues such as alienation from nature and climate change.