Jonathan Jennings Harris was born on August 27, 1979. He studied painting and drawing at Deerfield Academy, computer science at Princeton University, interactive art at Fabrica, and shamanism with The Power Path.

His work with data visualization (2004–2015) helped to establish that nascent field by celebrating the humanity of the newly social Internet — through pioneering digital artworks like Wordcount, 10x10, We Feel Fine, Yahoo Time Capsule, I Want You To Want Me, and Network Effect. His data works have been widely exhibited around the world, including at TED, Ars Electronica, Le Centre Pompidou, The World Economic Forum, The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, The V&A in London, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, where two are in the permanent collection.

His work with interactive storytelling (2007–2018) combined the digital and physical worlds by adopting algorithmic approaches to data collection in real-life situations — seeking a certain kind of empathy with machines. These ritualistic experiments included The Whale Hunt, I Love Your Work, Balloons of Bhutan, A Silent Place, and Today, a daily photo practice he continued for 443 days. Today evolved into Cowbird, a storytelling platform open to all, producing a “public library of human experience” that ended up amassing 100,000 stories from 25,000 authors in 200 countries — until growing patterns of Internet addiction prompted its closure in 2017. He explored these dynamics in the visual essays World Building in a Crazy World, Modern Medicine, Data Will Help Us, and Navigating Stuckness. His storytelling works have been featured at international film festivals like Sundance, Tribeca, and IDFA, where he was the 2017 Guest of Honor.

His work with ritual placemaking (2015–) is centered at High Acres Farm, his family's home and land in Vermont for six generations. From 2015–2021, he performed a series of 21 rituals there, seeking to alchemize old family patterns as a way of preparing the land for the best possible future. These rituals were documented through the 21 films of In Fragments. This body of work explores the practice of "Life Art" — a way of co-creating with a particular life situation as a frame for the work over time, using the technology of ritual as a tool for shaping the future. Other tangible outcomes of this work include the transformation of his grandparents' home into a contemporary gathering place; the design and installation of a network of twenty-seven "lightning transformers" planted across forty acres of land; the completion of Notitia Sanctuary; the initiation of the Linestone Collective; and the inspiration for the evolving Electric Web.

His current work with illuminated publications (2023–) happens through Sunlight Papers — a publishing studio devoted to the art of life, creating books, cards, films, prints, and other illuminated works for all ages.

He lives and works between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Shelburne, Vermont. For updates, join his newsletter.