Who Killed Colin Roach? is Isaac Julien’s first film, which reflects upon the death of Colin Roach, a 23 year-old who was shot dead at the entrance of a police station in East London, in 1982. Even though the police claimed Roach had committed suicide, evidence showed otherwise. These black-and-white photographs, presented as a single work, were rediscovered by the artist in 2018. In an article published by the Royal Academy in June 2020, Julien comments, ‘Whenever I see the photographs I slightly gulp; I think “Oh my god, it could be my mother,” because they were all ordinary, working class Black people. There was no political agenda; they were just trying to find out what had happened to their son. I was so moved by this demonstration that I decided it would be important to document it, and at least try to make a work which could be used by his family. That was my main intention, anyway.’

Commenting in the Guardian in 2019, Julien explained that this early work meditates on the continued ‘quest for equality that was Douglass’s life-long ambition, while also evoking the current Black Lives Matter movement.’

Isaac Julien, CBE RA (born 1960) is a critically acclaimed British artist and filmmaker. In 2018, Julien joined UC Santa Cruz where he is the distinguished professor of the arts and leads the IJ Lab together with Arts Professor Mark Nash. Recent international solo exhibitions include: Isaac Julien: Western Union: Small Boats, Neuberger Museum, New York (2020); Isaac Julien: Frederick Douglass: Lessons of the Hour, ​SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah (2019); Looking for Langston at Tate Britain (2019); and Playtime at LACMA (2019). Julien has previously exhibited at venues including Museum of Modern Art, New York (2013), Art Institute of Chicago (2013), Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (2012), and Pompidou Centre Paris (2005).