Isaac Julien: Once Again… (Statues Never Die)

In celebration of its centenary, the Barnes Foundation has commissioned a new video work by the British artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien. Titled Once Again… (Statues Never Die) (19 June–4 September), the five-screen installation considers the relationship between Albert C. Barnes, an early US collector and exhibitor of African material culture, and the philosopher and cultural critic Alain Locke, widely known as the ‘Father of the Harlem Renaissance’. Informed by research in the archives of the Barnes Foundation, the film dramatises the relationship between the two protagonists in order to highlight Locke’s engagement with the Barnes Foundation, with a specific focus on Barnes’s subsequent publications on African material culture which emerged as a result of their collaboration. Accompanied by artworks by sculptors Richmond Barthé and Matthew Harrison, as well as selected African objects from the Barnes’ collection, the installation continues Julien’s investigations into African diasporic politics and culture. Find out more on the Barnes Foundation website – and for more on the project, read Robert Barry’s interview with the artist for Apollo here. 

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here 

Danny Huston as Albert Barnes on the set of Once Again… (Statues Never Die) (still; 2022), Isaac Julien. © Isaac Julien

André Holland as Alain Locke on the set of Once Again… (Statues Never Die) (still; 2022), Isaac Julien. © Isaac Julien