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Vanessa Walking on Beach
- Digital print
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22 x 22 in
(55.88 x 55.88 cm)
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$5,000.00
- Isaac Julien
- Edition. Printer's Proof (From the edition of: 5 APs, 2 PPs, and 15 editions)
"Vanessa Walking on Beach" is a production still taken from Isaac Julien’s film “True North.” In the film, protagonist Vanessa Myrie retraces the footsteps of Mathew Henson, a black man who has been overlooked as one of the first people to reach the North Pole, despite being a companion and accomplice to the man daubed with that accomplishment, Robert E. Peary. The film is engulfed in the crisp and bright whites of the snow and sky, with contrasting moments of overwhelming darkness. The monochromatic setting serves as an exploration of the representation of whiteness, the disappearance in darkness, and the heroic white masculinity that is lent to exploration stories. In Julien’s own words, “…you have this absence/presence kind of thing: that which is what is absent from history and that which is present and is implied in the whiteness of the ice or the blue hues of it.”
- Created: c. 2004
Isaac Julien came to prominence in the early 1980s as a founding member of the Sankofa Film/Video Collective, one of the first workshops in the UK to explore new ideas of representing black identity. From his critically acclaimed documentaries Looking for Langston (1989) and Badasssss Cinema (2002), to his multi-channel installations such as Baltimore (2003), Isaac’s work combines dreamlike rhythms and lush imagery in stylized narratives. His films subvert the cinematic gaze to address stereotypes of masculinity, race, and sexual difference both head on and metaphorically. During his 1999 Artpace residency he wowed Texas with The Long Road to Mazátlan, which has now screened internationally and was the centerpiece of his Turner Prize nomination in 2000 and at Documenta 11 he took audiences by storm with Paradise/Omeros.