Joan Jonas

(Off View)

Courtesy of the artist and the collection of Carol Szymanski and Barry Schwabsky 

Joan Jonas was a pioneer of video and performance art in the early 1970s. Jonas’ work has frequently questioned portrayals of the female identity, and engaged with the changing perception of the role of women in society, the home, and in professional environments over time. In doing so Jonas often makes use of theatrical elements and self-reflexive methods, including ritual-like gestures, masks, mirrors, and costumes. Over time, a vocabulary of symbols have entered her work; recurrent motifs include dogs, the sun and moon, skulls, and elements of landscape, which act as totems for autobiographical memory. 

Six Feet (A Measuring Device) marks the first work of public sculpture in Jonas’ prolific career. Made during the height of the covid-19 pandemic, the sculpture’s modest materiality belies the psychological weight it carries, as a device for demarcating what was then designated as a safe distance to maintain between bodies in space. Placed in relief among the trees, it is both symbolic of a return to social society, and a stark reminder of the swiftly redefined social norms that governed life under the triage policies of the pandemic. 

Exhibitions of Joan Jonas’s work have been held at Dia Art Foundation, New York; Museo Novecento, Florence; Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional, Madrid among others.