Isaac Julien: Looking for Langston (1989/2017)

Overview

As part of the 40th Mardi Gras Festival, soon-to-be-knighted British artist Isaac Julien will be visiting Paddington's Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, armed with his stunning, 29-year-old film Looking for Langston (1989/2017) and a solo exhibition filled with new large-scale and silver gelatin photographic works.

The film, which visited MoMA, New York City, and Tate Britain in 2017, is an exploration of African–American poet Langston Hughes, particularly his relationship with other artists of the Harlem Renaissance, an explosion of culture and art that took over Harlem, New York City, in the 1920s. As part of the adventure, Julien makes references to works by 1980s artists, including James Van der Zee, George Platt Lynes and Robert Mapplethorpe.

In addition, Julien's film Young Soul Rebels (1991) will show at Golden Age Cinema on February 18, as part of the Queer Film Festival. He'll also make an appearance at the AGNSW on Wednesday, February 14, in conversation with Maud Page, the gallery's deputy director, following a screening of Looking for Langston in its original 16mm format.