Joan Jonas: We Come from the Sea at Inverness County Centre for the Arts

“Somewhere in our unconscious we remember that we come from the sea. It’s not a memory; it’s a feeling; it’s in our DNA.” — Joan Jonas

Step into the world of internationally-acclaimed artist Joan Jonas in We Come from the Sea, a powerful and immersive multi-sensory exhibition featuring her installation Moving Off the Land II. In the exhibition, Jonas—a central figure in video and performance art—pays homage to the beauty, biodiversity, and vulnerability of oceans. Moving Off the Land II reflects years of research, performance, and filmmaking in the waters of Jamaica and Nova Scotia, and in aquariums around the world. The work invites visitors to experience the ocean as never before—not just as a place, but as a living, breathing part of themselves.

Through layered projections, soundscapes, movement, drawing, and storytelling, We Come from the Sea examines the line between art and nature, fact and feeling. Jonas’ deep connection to Cape Breton, where she has lived seasonally since 1970, is woven throughout, bringing local landscapes and local spirit into a global conversation.

Born in New York City, Joan Jonas is a world-renowned artist whose work encompasses a wide range of media including video, performance, installation, sound, text, and sculpture. Jonas’ experiments and productions in the late 1960s and early 1970s continue to be crucial to the development of many contemporary art genres, from performance and video to conceptual art and theatre. Since 1968, her practice has explored ways of seeing, the rhythms of rituals, and the authority of objects and gestures.

Jonas has exhibited and performed extensively around the world. Her notable exhibition history includes Documenta 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, and 13; the 28th Sao Paolo Biennial; the 5th Kochi-Muziris Biennale; and the 13th Shanghai Biennale. She has recently presented solo exhibitions at the United States Pavilion for the 56th Edition of the Venice Biennial; Tate Modern, London; Museu Serralves, Porto; Pinacoteca de São Paulo; Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid; Dia Beacon; Haus der Kunst, Munich; The Drawing Center, New York, Gladstone Gallery, New York and Galerie Gisela Capitain, Naples, Italy. The Museum of Modern Art in New York hosted a retrospective of Jonas’s work in 2024.

A recipient of many awards—including The Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon (2016); the Maya Deren Award given by the American Film Institute (1989); and the Lifetime Achievement Award given by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (2009) —Jonas received the prestigious Kyoto Prize in 2018, given to those individuals who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of mankind, and in 2024 she was presented with the Nam June Paik Prize, awarded to artists who have contributed to the development of contemporary art, mutual understanding, and world peace. In 2025, Jonas was selected as a medalist in the inaugural Art Basel Awards and received their distinguished Icon Award.

Organized by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the National Gallery of Canada, We Come from the Sea will be presented simultaneously at Eltuek Arts Centre in Sydney, and Inverness County Centre for the Arts in Inverness. The exhibition is presented with support from Patron Supporters of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, CBCL, and Benjamin Bridge.

The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia acknowledges the support of the Province of Nova Scotia, the Canada Council for the Arts, the D.R. Sobey Foundation, and The Sobey Foundation. The National Gallery of Canada’s National Engagement initiative is generously supported by Michael Nesbitt, with additional funding from the National Gallery of Canada Foundation.