Gwenn Thomas Interview June 2019

Interview

Gwenn Thomas interviewed by Kristin Poor, June 21, 2019.

Gwenn Thomas is a New York-based artist. She studied at the Sorbonne, Paris, and graduated from the Cooper Union School of Art, New York. She photographed Joan Jonas’s work during the 1970s and was a performer in a few of her pieces.

Transcript

• “Gwenn Thomas interviewed by Kristin Poor, June 21, 2019 (Interview Transcript).” Joan Jonas Knowledge Base, Artist Archives Initiative, 2021.

Abstract

This interview begins with Thomas speaking about how she first met Joan Jonas, which was at the house of Jeanne Reynal in the West Village, and the artists for whom she was during this time, including Tom Doyle, Hans Namuth, Dan Budnik, and Jonas Mekas [00:15–08:45]. Thomas then goes on to describe how she started working with Jonas and photographing some of her performances [08:49–12:12]. Thomas began going to a lot of Jonas’s performances at her loft on Grand Street, [12:16–14:25] and Thomas describes what she remembers from those performances—specifically focusing on Mirror Piece and how Jonas’s work is constantly transforming [13:03–17:05]. From here, Thomas recalls her memories of seeing Mirage at Anthology Film Archives and other performances that Jonas did at Anthology in the 1970s [17:16 –22:16]. Thomas also performed in a handful of Joans’s performances and talks about her own experience as a performer [22:33–23:55]. The conversation then turns to how Thomas began documenting Jonas’s work and any specific directions that Jonas gave Thomas [23:59–27:47]. In 1980 Thomas stepped away from photographing the work of other artists [27:49–29:47]. After this the two discuss Organic Honey [29:48–32:51]. Thomas speaks about certain set ups related to Twilight in Jonas’s studio, the photographs of that performance [32:57–37:39], and how she and Jonas selected the images afterwards [37:42–40:02]. Thomas talks about photographing Jack Smith, who was influential for Jonas, for Avalanche [40:03–48:24]. From here, Thomas discusses her memories of Jonas working in her studio during the 1970s and of the photographs that she took that ended up as the exhibition poster image for Stage Sets [48:58–51:46]. The two discuss 112 Green Street and whether Thomas remembers seeing Jonas’s improvisation there [51:46–52:34]. The interview ends with Thomas speaking about how Jonas’s work is very much in the present and still re-inventing itself, and gives suggestions on who the Knowledge Base should reach out to for interviews [52:37–59:20].