Opening today at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Isaac Julien’s compelling cinematic installation Once Again… (Statues Never Die) (2022), will be on display until 16 February 2025.

A trailblazer of multi-screen installation, Sir Isaac Julien is one of Britain’s most influential and critically acclaimed artists. He seamlessly fuses film, photography and installation to address issues of race, gender and cultural identity.  Once Again… (Statues Never Die) (2022), Julien’s latest work, is a mesmerising and immersive five-screen black-and-white film installation which explores the poetic relationship and correspondence between art collector Albert C. Barnes (1872-1951) and renowned philosopher, educator and cultural leader Alain Locke (1885–1954).  Barnes, an early collector of African material culture in the US and founder of the Barnes Collection, and Locke, a key figure of the 1920s-30s cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance and the first African-American Rhodes Scholar, present animated discussions about African art and its place in global art histories.  This project explores Dr. Barnes’s and Alain Locke’s storied relationship, its mutually formative critical dialogue, and its significant impact on their work as cultural critics, educators, organisers, and activists on behalf of various African American causes.

Displayed alongside Julien’s film is a selection of 19th- and early 20th-century African art objects loaned from the Australian Museum. Also included are figurative sculptures by Richmond Barthé (1901–1989), a lifelong friend of Locke’s, and contemporary artist Matthew Angelo Harrison (born 1989), who appear throughout the film. The inclusion of their works demonstrates how African American artists in the west continue to develop their own visual languages to reflect the complexities of Black identity.

Once Again… (Statues Never Die) (2022) is on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Level 1 Macgregor Gallery, from 27 September 2024 until 16 February 2025. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Tuesday, when it is closed. It is located at 140 George Street, The Rocks. Click here for details.