Isaac Julien

Victoria Miro is delighted to present an exhibition of newly conceived photographic works by Isaac Julien, focusing on his latest work, Once Again… (Statues Never Die).

Once Again… (Statues Never Die) is an immersive five-screen installation by artist and filmmaker Sir Isaac Julien. Commissioned by the Barnes Foundation in celebration of its centenary, the work explores the relationship between Dr. Albert C. Barnes, who was an early US collector and exhibitor of African material culture, and the famed philosopher and cultural critic Alain Locke, known as the ‘Father of the Harlem Renaissance’.

Once Again… (Statues Never Die) examines the significant and often neglected place of African objects in numerous collections of western art museums. Utilising poetic reparation and historical archives – drawing on Julien’s extensive research in the archives of the Barnes Foundation – the film explores the impact of Locke’s political philosophy and cultural organising activities on Dr. Barnes’s pioneering art collecting and his democratic, inclusive educational enterprise.

Once Again… (Statues Never Die) stars actor André Holland (Moonlight and Passing) as Alain Locke, Danny Huston (Succession and Marlowe) as Dr. Barnes, rising star Devon Terrell as sculptor Richmond Barthé, and Sharlene Whyte (Small Axe and Lessons of the Hour) as the curator. It also features a special appearance by singer and songwriter Alice Smith.

Aspects of the film are expanded upon in Julien’s new series of photographic works on view at Victoria Miro.

Born in 1960, Isaac Julien lives and works in London and Santa Cruz, California. He has been making films and producing film installations for over twenty years, including Once Again . . . (Statues Never Die), 2022, Lina Bo Bardi - A Marvellous Entanglement (2019), Lessons of the Hour – Frederick Douglass (2019), Stones Against Diamonds (2015), Playtime (2014), Ten Thousand Waves (2010), Western Union: Small Boats (2007), Fantôme Afrique (2005), True North (2004), Baltimore (2003), Paradise Omeros (2002), Vagabondia (2000), and Long Road to Mazatlan (1999).

Recent international solo and group exhibitions include: Isaac Julien: Lina Bo Bardi - A Marvellous Entanglement, Philadelphia (2023); Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour - Frederick Douglas, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, USA; Isaac Julien, Goslar Kaiserring, Monchehaus Museum Goslar, Germany (2022-2023); Isaac Julien: Once Again... (Statues Never Die), Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia; Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s-Now, Tate Britain, London, UK (2022); Isaac Julien: Lina Bo Bardi. A Marvellous Entanglement, MAXXI, Rome, Italy (2020) touring to Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Charlotte NC, USA; Galeria Helga de Alvear, Madrid, Spain; Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, Australia (2021-2022); Isaac Julien: Western Union: Small Boats, Neuberger Museum, New York (2020); Masculinities: Liberation through Photography​, Barbican Art Gallery, London, travelling to Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, among others (2020); Baltimore at the Baltimore Museum of Art (2019-2020); Isaac Julien: Frederick Douglass: Lessons of the Hour, ​SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah (2019; Looking for Langston at Tate Britain (2019); Playtime at LACMA (2019); Black Refractions: Highlights from the Studio Museum in Harlem at the Gibbes Museum (2019). Also in 2019, Julien's Playtime was featured as part of Ruby City's inaugural programme.

Previously, Julien has had solo exhibitions at venues including ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark (2018); The Whitworth, Manchester (2018); The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (2017); MAC Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2016), MUAC (Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo), Mexico City (2016); the De Pont Museum, Netherlands (2015); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2013), Art Institute of Chicago (2013), Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (2012), Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo (2012), Bass Museum, Miami, Florida, USA (2010), Museum Brandhorst, Munich (2009), Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea - Museu do Chiado, Lisbon, Portugal (2008), Kestnergesellschaft Hanover (2006), Pompidou Centre Paris (2005), and MoCA Miami (2005).

In 2022 Julien received Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for the Platinum Jubilee year.

Julien was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to the Arts in the Queen’s Birthday 2017 Honours List, and is the recipient of The Royal Academy of Arts Charles Wollaston Award 2017.

In 2019, Julien was appointed to the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Julien and independent curator and writer Mark Nash, the former head of contemporary art at the Royal College of Art in London, will work together on developing the Isaac Julien Lab at the UC Santa Cruz campus, which will provide students with the opportunity to assist Julien and Nash with project research and the production of moving-image and photographic works in California and London.