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 cal ...

, filmmaker, and Distinguished Professor of the Arts at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

Early life

Julien was born in the East End of London, one of the five children of his parents, who had migrated to Britain from

St Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

. He graduated in 1985 from

Saint Martin's School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art school, 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 beca ...

, 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 organized the Sankofa Film and Video Collective with, among others, Martina Attille, Maureen Blackwood, Nadine Marsh-Edwards, which was "dedicated to developing an independent black film culture in the areas of production, exhibition and audience". He received a BA Honours degree in Fine Art Film and Video from

Saint Martins School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art school, 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 beca ...

, London (1984), where he worked alongside artists, film-makers and lecturers

Malcolm Le Grice Malcolm Le Grice (15 May 1940 – 3 December 2024) was a British artist known for his avant-garde film work. The British Film Institute claimed that he was "probably the most influential modernist filmmaker in British cinema". Biography Le Gri ...

, William Raban, Anna Thew, Tina Keane,

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 ...

, and co-students, directors and film-makers Adam Finch, Richard Heslop and Sandra Lahire, 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. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harl ...

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 ti ...

. His following grew when his film ''

Young Soul Rebels ''Young Soul Rebels'' is a 1991 British coming-of-age thriller written by Derek Saldaan McClintock, Isaac Julien and Paul Hallam, and directed by Julien as his second narrative feature film. The film examines the interaction between youth cultu ...

'' won the

Semaine de la Critique Critics' Week (), until 2008 called International Critics' Week ('), is a parallel section to the Cannes Film Festival organized by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. History Critics' week was created in 1962, after the French Syndicate of ...

prize for best film at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

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. Julien is a documentary filmmaker, and his work in this genre includes '' BaadAsssss Cinema'', a film on the history and influence of

blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...

cinema. In 2023, the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

in London held a major retrospective of his work titled ''What Freedom Is to Me''. The exhibition was set to open at the

Bonnefantenmuseum The Bonnefanten Museum is a museum of historic, modern and contemporary art in Maastricht, Netherlands. History The museum was founded in 1884 as the historical and archaeological museum for the Dutch province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. ...

in Maastrict in March 2024. The

Pérez Art Museum Miami Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Cent ...

acquired Julien's ''Ogun’s Return (Once Again... Statues Never Die)'' (2022) for the museum collection as part of its PAMM Fund for Black Art in 2024. In this same year, Sir Isaac Julien's films were on view at the Smithsonian

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

, Washington DC, and the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, New York. The first, a solo presentation and multichannel installation ''Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour—Frederick Douglass,'' and the latter, the cinematic installation ''Once Again . . . (Statues Never Die),'' a commentary on the life and work of

Alain Locke Alain LeRoy Locke (September 13, 1885 – June 9, 1954) was an American writer, philosopher, and educator. Distinguished in 1907 as the first African American Rhodes Scholar, Locke became known as the philosophical architect—the acknowledged " ...

philosopher, in dialogue with Albert C. Barnes about African art, at the 2024

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

Collaborations

Julien 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) was a French West Indian psychiatrist, political philosopher, and Marxist from the French colony of Martinique (today a French department). His works have become influential in the ...

, 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." In 2007, Julien participated in

Performa The Macintosh Performa is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1992 to 1997. The Performa brand re-used models from Apple's Quadra, Centris, LC, Classic, and Power Macintosh families ...

07 creating his first evening-length productio
Cast No Shadow
in collaboration with Rusell Maliphant.

Other activities

Since 2018, Julien has been a member of the Curatorial Advisory Group at the

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is a public non-profit museum in Cape Town, South Africa. Zeitz MOCAA opened on September 22, 2017 as the largest museum of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. The museum is locat ...

. In 2019, he was a member of the jury that selected

Arthur Jafa Arthur Jafa (; born Arthur Jafa Fielder, November 30, 1960) is an American video artist and cinematographer. Early life and education Jafa was born on November 30, 1960, in Tupelo, Mississippi, and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi, which was ...

as winner of the

Prince Pierre Foundation The Prince Pierre Foundation (Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco) was established by Prince Rainier III of Monaco in February 1966 to promote culture and the arts through the creation and the awarding of prizes. Prince Rainier III created the foun ...

's International Contemporary Art Prize.

Recognition

Julien 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 ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

for his single-screen version of ''Baltimore''. 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 valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2017 Birthday Honours The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours were 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 were awarded a ...

for services to the arts and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a 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. The concept of a knighthood ...

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 Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those ...

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

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

in 2017.

Personal life

Julien lives and works in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, and

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

. He works with his partner Mark Nash. Julien was a visiting lecturer at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

'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 Silas ...

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

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

, 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, Germany. It focuses on media art, communication design, product design, exhibition design and scenography, art research, and media philoso ...

. In 2018, Julien joined

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, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located in Monterey Bay ...

, where he is the distinguished professor of the arts. Julien is a patron of the Live Art Development Agency.

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) * ''Once Again... (Statues Never Die)'' (2022)

Filmography

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

'' (1989) *''

'' (1991) *''Black and White in Colour'' (1992) *''The Attendant'' (1993) *''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:

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...

'' (2019). Grayson, Saisha
A Meditation on the Legacy of Frederick Douglass by Artist and Filmmaker Isaac Julien
''Smithsonian Magazine'', February 28, 2025. *''Lina Bo Bardi - A Marvelous Entanglement'' (2020)

Awards

*''Young Soul Rebels'', Semaine de la Critique Prize at the

(1991). *''Looking For Langston'', Teddy Award for Best Short Film at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

(1989). *David R Kessler award for LGBTQ studies, CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies (2004) *2016–2017 Brudner Prize at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

Goslarer Kaiserring Since 1975, the Goslarer Kaiserring award has been given, by the city of Goslar, to a distinguished international artist of modern and contemporary art. The award is for artists whose work has given the contemporary art significant impetus. The pr ...

(2022)

References

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

Conversation/podcast with Isaac Julien
for Radio Web MACBA, 2020 {{DEFAULTSORT:Julien, Isaac Living people 1960 births 21st-century English male artists Academics of Goldsmiths, University of London Academic staff of the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art Artists from London Black British academics Black British artists Black British filmmakers Black British LGBTQ people 21st-century Black British people British expatriates in Germany British experimental filmmakers British gay artists British LGBTQ film directors Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English contemporary artists English installation artists English LGBTQ artists English people of Saint Lucian descent Film people from London Gay academics Harvard University faculty Knights Bachelor LGBTQ people from London Royal Academicians