J. Makary is a PhD student in Art History specializing in film studies and lens-based art practices and a recipient of the Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship. Her research considers how examples from the historical avant-garde and contemporary experimental cinema can engage questions concerning the philosophy of perception.
As a guest curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, she programmed screenings in connection with the exhibition Michael Snow: Photo-Centric, and later founded Mother Ditch, a critique group for experimental film and animation artists in Los Angeles. Her own films have been exhibited at ICA Philadelphia, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, the Slought Foundation, Mana Contemporary (Jersey City and Chicago), Human Resources LA, Moore College, SPACES Cleveland, and the Spring/Break Art Show.