JONA

JONA

As an artist, my praxis involves deep listening and memory. Whether it’s a documentary, poem, visual art, or soundscape, my creations generate compassion to understand our sense of place in the world(s) we inhabit. Through conversations that traverse the varied terrain of memory and lived experience, my work makes visible the rupture of colonial violence, how we might go about repair, and choosing what we’d like to remember about the lives we are beginning to live again. Through this personal process of shaping my life, I hope to share possibilities for transformation. Main themes of my work explore Black Ecologies, the built environment, culture, and intergenerational knowledge, often drawing from both research and personal narratives.

There are no borders in how stories travel: across oceans, cities, and nations. As a filmmaker, I see my role as part-documentarian, part-archivist, and part-messenger. This is my commitment to creating work that imagines alternative ways of being.

Currently

Jona is the lead documentarian at the Black Ecologies Lab (Rutgers) and for the Black Geographers on Film project, sponsored by the Antipode Foundation. Recent work includes a 2026 Scholars for Social Justice Artist Residency, a screening at Birkbeck, University of London, and a (Forthcoming) Year in Review film for the Outsider Preservation Initiative at the University of Virginia.

Interview about poetry, creativity, filmmaking, and the place of Black study at most streaming services: https://go.umd.edu/JonaAlexander

discussion

Zoom recording from Jona Alexander's participation in the Plantation Economies and Liberation Ecologies Film Screening at Birbeck University in London, England, on March 13th, 2026. Jona's recent "Durham Black Ecologies Field School Documentary" was presented alongside other films. See more here.