Isaac Julien
Bio
Isaac Julien is a British installation artist and filmmaker. Though he’s been creating and showing work since the early ’80s, Julien’s breakthrough came with the release of his 1989 film, Looking for Langston. The film combines authentic archival newsreel footage of Harlem in the 1920s with scripted scenes to produce a non-linear impressionistic storyline celebrating black gay identity and desire during the artistic and cultural period known as the Harlem Renaissance in New York. Though he is happy about the life that the film continues to have out in the world, Julien doesn’t spent much time worrying about the lasting legacy of his work: “I couldn’t care less about what people think, to be honest. As long as I’ve made my statement, people can think whatever they like. My work is to make my art. That’s it.”