Jonas N.T. Becker

Jonas Becker is an interdisciplinary visual artist whose work explores how various sets of beliefs—from social histories to collective desires to scientific hypotheses—form around specific sites and geographies. Becker’s projects span video installation, photography, sculpture, and community engagement. Recent works, The Pile and Same Rock, focus specifically on narratives about Appalachia, particularly the relationship between humans, technology, and the environment.

Becker’s practice is research-based and formally invested in the intersection of sculpture, projection, and community engagement. His interest in network technologies and contemporary formations of community has led him to explore various means of using collective input to generate content, from anonymous internet surveys to community organizing and direct action. In addition, he often works with artists and theorists from other disciplines such as environmental studies and literature to contribute to his work.  By working across social, physical, and cinematic mediums, Becker disrupts conventional narratives and introduce the possibility for queer remixing and reconstructing.

Becker has exhibited internationally, most recently in solo shows at the Craft & Folk Art Museum, LAXART, and Shulamit Nazarian in Los Angeles, and the Lancaster Museum of Art & History. Residencies include Heart of Los Angeles Foundation, Montalvo Arts Center, and Saas-Fee Summer Institute. Grants include the Berman Foundation, Center for Global Peace Studies, and Nazarian Foundation and Six Points Fellowship. Becker is founding director of the Mobile Pinhole Project, an organization that uses a giant, mobile pinhole camera to bring photography workshops to children in neighborhoods across Los Angeles.  

Becker was born in Morgantown, WV, and lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.  He holds an MFA from UC Irvine and a BA from Smith College.