Joan Jonas was born in New York City in 1936, and still lives and works there today. Jonas was one of the founders of performance art in the 1960s and 1970s. Many different cultural influences from her frequent travels can be discerned in her work. Other motifs she has explored artistically are the medium of the mirror, and the human body. Since the 2000s, the artist has become increasingly concerned with urgent ecological issues in the wake of climate change. This has focused her recent work on non-human life forms and spaces.