The
Renaissance
Society

Jonas is a pioneer on several fronts of contemporary art -- video, performance and installation-based practices. Over the years she has developed and steadily refined a language of props (mirror, mask, video monitor) and choreographed movements (the dance of veil and scarf, drawing in the sand) that explore notions of subjectivity as they are configured in folk/fairytale and ritual. For her exhibition at The Society, Jonas will produce a new work based on Aby Warburg's study of Hopi imagery. Jonas sees something of a parallel between herself and Warburg who compared diverse geographical and chronological cultures through an analysis of abstract imagery taken from their various artifacts. Drawing on sources ranging from Noh to Nordic theater, from the Brothers Grimm to Homer, Jonas' extrapolates the magic of universal narratives from the most quotidian of circumstances so that she, as well as we, may become the heroes and heroines, victims and villains of the myth of self and origin.