Isaac Julien and Sherrilyn Ifill on Lessons of the Hour
September 19, 2024
In the online edition of MoMA’s ArtSpeaks program, MoMA invites staff members, artists, and special guests to share personal impressions of an artwork in the collection.
This time they invited Isaac Julien who delved deeper into his ten-screen video installation Lessons of the Hour, in conversation with civil rights lawyer and 2023–24 MoMA scholar-in-residence Sherrilyn Ifill.
The video installation pays homage to the legacy of Frederick Douglass, drawing on his life, speeches, and activism to explore the unfinished business of democracy. Julien’s work, along with Ifill’s insights, deepens our understanding of past and present struggles for Black liberation.
