Jenson Leonard
Technology Residency

Jenson Leonard was born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Initially a poet, he became interested in memes during his six-year tenure as a cook at a Belgian waffle kiosk. He found himself drawn to the immediacy and reach of instant publication on social media, the confluence of which exacerbate the arguably inherent power of the image for those who see. His early work used the canonical Twitter meme format, but developed into the more ornately parodic style that predominates in the left-leaning corners of Facebook. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Pratt Institute. His work has been featured in VICE Motherboard, Juxtapoz, AQNB, and Rhizome.