Sir Isaac Julien (born 21 February 1960Annette Kuhn
"Julien, Isaac (1960–)"
BFI Screen Online.) is a British

installation artist Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

, filmmaker, and distinguished professor of the arts at

UC Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge ...

Early life

Julien was born in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have univ ...

, one of the five children of his parents, who had migrated to Britain from

St Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindi ...

. He graduated in 1985 from

Saint Martin's School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's became part of ...

, where he studied painting and fine art film. He co-founded Sankofa Film and Video Collective in 1983, and was a founding member of Normal Films in 1991.

Education

In 1980, Julien organised the Sankofa Film and Video Collective with Martina Attille, Maureen Blackwood, Nadine Marsh-Edwards, and Robert Crusz in response to the social unrest in Britain. Sankofa was "dedicated to developing an independent black film culture in the areas of production, exhibition and audience". He received a BA in fine-art film from Central Saint Martins School of Art, London (1984), where he worked alongside artists including

Sandra Lahire Sandra Lahire (November 19, 1950 - July 27, 2001) was a central figure in the experimental feminist filmmaking that emerged in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s. Life and career Lahire studied Philosophy at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (B ...

Malcolm Le Grice Malcolm Le Grice (born May 1940, in Plymouth, United Kingdom) is a British artist known for his avant-garde film work. Biography The British Film Institute claims that he "is probably the most influential modernist filmmaker in British cinema". ...

Lis Rhodes Lis Rhodes (born 1942) is a British artist and feminist filmmaker, known for her density, concentration, and poeticism in her visual works. She has been active in the UK since the early 1970s. Early life and education Rhodes was brought up in W ...

Vera Neubauer Vera Neubauer is a Czech born British experimental filmmaker, animator, feminist activist and educator. She is known for her jarring, provocative and anti establishment approach. Her life's work spans genres, from cinematic short film to televisi ...

, Adam Finch, and

Tina Keane Tina Keane (born 1940) is a British artist who has worked with film, video, digital media, and performance, and been a forerunner of multimedia art in the UK. Reflecting a feminist perspective, her works have often explored gender roles, sexuali ...

, and completed his postdoctoral studies at Les entrepreneurs de l'audiovisuel européen, Brussels (1989).

Career

Julien achieved prominence in the film world with his 1989 drama-documentary ''

Looking for Langston ''Looking for Langston'' is a 1989 British black-and-white film, directed by Isaac Julien and produced by Sankofa Film & Video Productions. It combines authentic archival newsreel footage of Harlem in the 1920s with scripted scenes to produce a ...

'', gaining a cult following with this poetic exploration of

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, H ...

and the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...

. His following grew when his film '' Young Soul Rebels'' won the Semaine de la Critique prize for best film at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

in 1991. One of the objectives of Julien's work is to break down the barriers that exist between different artistic disciplines, drawing from and commenting on film, dance, photography, music, theatre, painting and sculpture, and uniting these to construct a powerfully visual narrative. Thematically, much of his work directly relates to experiences of black and gay identity (he is himself gay), including issues of class, sexuality, and artistic and cultural history. He was nominated for the

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

in 2001, and in 2003 he won the Grand Jury Prize at the Kunstfilm Biennale in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

for his single screen version of ''Baltimore''. Julien is also a documentary filmmaker – his work in this genre includes ''BaadAsssss Cinema'', a film on the history and influence of

blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president ...

cinema. Julien was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the

2017 Birthday Honours The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

for services to the arts and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the G ...

in the

2022 Birthday Honours The 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as pa ...

for services to diversity and inclusion in art. Julien was elected a

Royal Academician The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purp ...

in 2017.

Collaborations

Julien readily cites cultural theorist and sociologist Stuart Hall as an important influence on his filmmaking. Hall narrates a portion of ''Looking for Langston''. Julien involves Hall in his work once more in the 1996 film '' Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask'', which tells the story of

Frantz Fanon Frantz Omar Fanon (, ; ; 20 July 1925 – 6 December 1961), also known as Ibrahim Frantz Fanon, was a French West Indian psychiatrist, and political philosopher from the French colony of Martinique (today a French department). His works have b ...

, the theorist and psychiatrist from Martinique. As a member of the Sankofa Film and Video Collective, Julien made ''The Passion of Remembrance'' (1986), "which attempts to deal with the difficulties of constructing a documentary history of black political experience by foregrounding questions of chauvinism and homophobia."

Personal life

Julien currently divides his time, living and working in London, England and Santa Cruz, California. He was a visiting lecturer at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

's Departments of Afro-American and Visual Environmental Studies, and was a visiting seminar leader in the MFA Art Practice programme at the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

, and a visiting professor at the Whitney Independent Study Program in New York City. He was also a research fellow at

Goldsmiths College, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

, and in September 2009 he became a professor at the

Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design The Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG) is a state art college founded in 1992 in Karlsruhe. It focuses on media art, communication design , product design , scenography, exhibition design and scenography, art history, art research and ...

. In 2018, Julien joined

where he is the distinguished professor of the arts. Julien is a patron of the

Live Art Development Agency Live Art Development Agency, also commonly known by its acronym LADA, is a publicly funded arts organisation and registered charity founded in London in 1999 by Lois Keidan and Catherine Ugwu. LADA provides professional advice for artists as we ...

Selected bibliography

Installation pieces

* ''Vagabondia'' (2000) * ''Paradise Omeros'' (2002) * ''Baltimore'' (2003) * ''Lost Boundaries'' (2003) * ''Radioactive'' (2004) * ''True North'' (2004) * ''Fantôme Afrique'' (2005) * ''Fantôme Créole'' (2005) * ''WESTERN UNION: Small Boats'' (2007) * ''Dungeness'' (2008)* ''Te Tonga Tuturu/True South (Apparatus)'' (2009) * ''TEN THOUSAND WAVES'' (2010) * ''PLAYTIME'' (2013) * ''A Marvellous Entanglement'' (2019)

Filmography

*''Who Killed Colin Roach?'' (1983) *''Territories'' (1984) *''The Passion of Remembrance'' (1986) *''This is Not an AIDS Advertisement'' (1987) *''

'' (1989) *'' Young Soul Rebels'' (1991) *''Black and White in Colour'' (1992) *''The Attendant'' (1992) *''Darker Side of Black'' (1993) *''The Question of Equality'' (senior producer) (1994) *'' Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask'' (1996) *''Three'' (1999) *''The Long Road to Mazatlan'' (1999) *''Paradise Omeros'' (2002) *'' BaadAsssss Cinema'' (2002) *''Baltimore'' (2003) *''Derek'' (2008) *''Ten Thousand Waves'' (2010) *''Kapital'' (2013) *''Playtime'' (2014) *''Stones Against Diamonds'' (2015) *''Lessons of the hour'' (2019)

Awards

*''Young Soul Rebels'', Semaine de la Critique Prize at the Cannes Film Festival (1991). *''Looking For Langston'', Teddy Award for Best Short Film at the Berlin International Film Festival (1989). *David R Kessler award for LGBTQ studies, CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies(2004) *2016–2017

Brudner Prize The James Robert Brudner Memorial Prize and Lecture at Yale University celebrates lifetime accomplishment and scholarly contributions in the field of LGBT Studies. It is bestowed annually by the Committee for LGBT Studies at Yale University. Re ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

* Goslarer Kaiserring (2022)

References

External links

* * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110718010729/http://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/_22/ Isaac Julien's pageat the Victoria Miro Gallery, London *
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Video Data Bank

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Women Make Movies Women Make Movies is a non-profit feminist media arts organization based in New York City. Founded by Ariel Dougherty and Sheila Paige with Dolores Bargowski, WMM was first a feminist production collective that emerged from city-wide Women's Li ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Julien, Isaac Living people 1960 births 21st-century male artists Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art Black British academics Black British artists Black British filmmakers British expatriate academics in the United States British expatriates in Germany British experimental filmmakers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English contemporary artists English installation artists English people of Saint Lucian descent Gay academics Gay artists Harvard University faculty LGBT artists from the United Kingdom LGBT Black British people LGBT film directors LGBT people from England Royal Academicians Knights Bachelor