Sir Isaac Julien, University of California, Santa Cruz Distinguished Professor of the Arts and Humanities, has been named a Fellow of the British Academy, joining a prestigious group whose past members include Sir Winston Churchill and the celebrated poet and playwright Seamus Haney.
Julien and UCSC Santa Cruz Professor Of Digital Arts & New Media Mark Nash, a distinguished independent curator, film historian and filmmaker, established the Isaac Julien Lab at UC Santa Cruz in 2019.
Julien, an acclaimed filmmaker and artist, joins an august group consisting of over 1,700 leading minds in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Current Fellows include the classicist Professor Dame Mary Beard;historian Professor Sir Simon Schama; and philosopher Professor Baroness Onora O’Neill, while previous Fellows include Dame Frances Yates, an historian of the Renaissance, and Beatrice Webb, an influential sociologist and economist as well as a founder of the London School of Economics.
Only a small number of scholars are elected to the British Academy as Fellows. The academy is also a funder of national and international research, as well as a forum for debate and public engagement.
President of the British Academy Julia Black called the Fellows “the lifeblood of the organization, representing the very best of our disciplines – and we could not do all that we do without their expertise, time and energy.”
“I very much look forward to working closely with our new Fellows; the breadth and depth of their expertise adds so much to the Academy,” said Black, who is also Strategic Director of Innovation and Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
“Conjuring a liberating dream space”
Julien’s fellowship is the latest in a long list of career-spanning honors.
In December of 2023, ArtReview, one of the world’s leading contemporary art magazines, named Julien the fifth most influential artist in its ArtReview Power 100 list
“Julien uses and then redefines the visual medium as a tool against cultural erasure and capitalism, " wrote Prince Shakur in a May 2023 essay in ArtReview. In the essay about “What Freedom Is To Me,” an exhibition of Julien’s work at London’s Tate Britain, Shakur called attention to Julien’s insistence on “boundless, often queer Black histories as a means of conjuring a liberating dream space in the face of reality.”
“Julien uses and then redefines the visual medium as a tool against cultural erasure and capitalism, " wrote Prince Shakur in a May 2023 essay in ArtReview. In the essay about “What Freedom Is To Me,” an exhibition of Julien’s work that was featured at the Tate Modern in London, Shakur called attention to Julien’s insistence on “boundless, often queer Black histories as a means of conjuring a liberating dream space in the face of reality.”
Julien was one of the luminaries on Queen Elizabeth's 2022 Birthday Honors List, in celebration of her Platinum Jubilee, for his contributions to diversity and inclusion in art.
Also in 2022, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the international organization best known for the Academy Awards, extended an invitation of membership to Julien, putting him at center stage once again.
A distinguished career
Julien’s practice is informed by the critical and theoretical ambition of British cultural studies, always viewed through an aesthetic lens. He has collaborated with affiliated faculty, including Professor of Literature Chris Connery, and with History of Consciousness alumni including Lisa Bloom, author of the recently published book Climate Change and the new Polar Aesthetics.
Julien’s art practice draws from film, dance, photography, music, theater, painting, and sculpture, uniting them to give voice to the experiences of disregarded, often Black, and queer narratives.
