Artist Project 3

 Lines in The Sand by Joan Jonas
         Joan Jonas is a pioneer of video and performance art. She is one of the most important female artists to
emerge in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Lines in The Sand is her project in 2002. This work is deeply
subjectively meditation no less about the fate of self than of civilization.  By chronologically and
geographically transposing the story of H.D. and her alter ego, Helen, on to present day Las Vegas, whose
Luxor Hotel provides the perfect mise en scene, Jonas subtly and not so subtly transcribes contemporary
reality into myth. Picking up where H.D. left off, Jonas’ suggestion that a now liberated Helen has turned up
in Vegas is perfectly in keeping with myth’s ability to blur the boundaries between fact and fiction. But
despite its humorous aspect, the date of its production and its title, make Lines in the Sand somewhat
conspicuous with respect to any myth regarding war.

         This project is made in 2002, at a time of war between the US and Iraq. Her title somehow refers to
declaration of war President Bush to Sadam Hussien. This kindda connects the past and present together.