Isaac Julien: What Freedom Is To Me

Since the 1980s, Isaac Julien’s films and video installations have merged fact and fiction in a distinctive, lyrical style. His first major UK retrospective at Tate Britain (26 April–20 August) ranges from his breakthrough film – Looking for Langston (1989), an exploration of Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance – to more recent work, including the European premiere of Julien’s most recent film, Once Again… (Statues Never Die) (2022), which looks at the relationship between the US collector Albert C. Barnes and the Harlem Renaissance critic Alain Locke. Other highlights of the display include Western Union: Small Boats (2007), the third film in Julien’s trilogy Cast No Shadow (2007) which charts the movement of people across different continents, times and spaces. Read Robert Barry’s interview with Isaac Julien here and find out more about the exhibition on the Tate’s website.

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary

Pas de Deux with Roses (Looking for Langston Vintage Series) (1989/2016), Isaac Julien. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro; © Isaac Julien

Mazu, Silence (Ten Thousand Waves) (2010), Isaac Julien. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro; © Isaac Julien