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Creative Minds

Creative Mind: Isaac Julien

The creative, who splits his time between London and Santa Cruz, California, is a pioneer of environmental works

By Lucy Rees
Multiple glowing screens displaying autumn landscapes in a dark room with a red carpet.
An installation view of Isaac Julien’s Lessons of the Hour (2019). Photo: ANDY OLENICK/FOTOWERKS LTD.; COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND VICTORIA MIRO.

For Isaac Julien, there are no barriers between artistic disciplines. Celebrated
for his poignant films and video installations, he draws from the worlds of dance, photography, music, theater, and painting to craft his unique narratives. The creative, who splits his time between London and Santa Cruz, California, is a pioneer of environmental works, for which he masterfully blends poetic images with sound elements. A feast for the senses, the installations are composed of myriad double-sided screens that beckon the viewer to move freely throughout the space, taking in different fragments of the story to reach a climactic whole; sound is amplified throughout, heightening the experience. 

Person in a suit and glasses stands confidently in front of a black and white background, looking toward the camera.
The artist. Photo: THIERRY BAL
Person in a flowing red dress dances gracefully under a wooden spiral staircase in a sunlit room.
O que é um museu? / What is a Museum? (Lina Bo Bardi – A Marvellous Entanglement) (2019) Photo: Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro

“If someone was to approach me and to ask me what my work is about, I would say I am a poet”

isaac julien

Gallery installation featuring vibrant autumn-themed photographs on multiple screens against a dark background.
An installation view of Isaac Julien’s Lessons of the Hour (2019). Photo: ANDY OLENICK/FOTOWERKS LTD.; COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND VICTORIA MIRO.

From April 26 through August 20, Julien’s most important creations from the 1980s to today will be on view in a solo exhibition at Tate Britain. Highlights include his film Looking for Langston (1989), about Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance, and Lessons of the Hour (2019), a ten-screen film meditation on the life of social reformer Frederick Douglass. “If someone was to approach me and to ask me what my work is about, I would say I am a poet,” explains the artist in a Tate documentary. He adds that his work is a “poetic quest for a language to express experiences which are part of the everyday experience of people like myself.”

Two men in tuxedos dancing in a dimly lit, elegant setting with roses and people seated at tables in the background.
Pas de Deux with Roses (Looking for Langston Vintage Series) (1989/2016) Photo: Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2023 Spring Issue under the headline “Creative Minds.” Subscribe to the magazine.