ISAAC JULIEN

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery is delighted to present its third solo exhibition of Isaac Julien’s wprk. The exhibition comprises the major film work Better Life (Ten Thousand Waves) and six large-scale photographs. Julien’s Better Life is the haunting single-screen version of the nine-channel installation Ten Thousand Waves, which premiered at the 17th Biennale of Sydney in 2010. The film and photographs poetically weave together rich imagery of the cold northwest coast of England, the bustling rush hour of Shanghai, and the lush landscape of rural China.

The original inspiration for Ten Thousand Waves was the Morecambe Bay tragedy of 2004, in which 23 Chinese cockle-pickers died in Northern England. In response to this event, Julien commissioned the poet Wang Ping to write Small Boats, a poem that is recited in the film. In successive years, Julien spent time in China slowly coming to understand the country and developing relationships that have enabled him to undertake the rich and multifaceted work. Through conversations with academics, curators, and artists, Julien uncovered a symbolic body of material to create a work that explores modern and traditional Chinese values and superstitions. These are encapsulated in a fable from Fujian Province (where the Morecambe Bay cockle-pickers originated) which relates the story of sixteenth-century fishermen lost and in danger at sea. At the heart of the legend is the goddess figure who leads the fishermen to safety. The audio and visuals of the rescue operation at Morecambe Bay ground the film in a haunting documentary reality. Better Life (Ten Thousand Waves) combines fact, fiction and film essay genres to create a meditation on global human migrations.