From my own personal experience, growing up, I did feel different and often out of place as a working class artistic mixed-race boy who wasn’t into football for example. Back then, I guess I wasn’t seen as traditionally masculine but I also didn’t want to ever show vulnerability in front of others either.
It’s difficult, if not impossible, to separate oneself from one’s roots. Ethiopia is a part of me as much as my Black identity is in the United States. My work is heavily focused on my identity to where I’ve grown up and where I currently live. I have hopes that my African background will, perhaps one day, lead to conversations about global Blackness. Being Black in other parts of the world isn’t the same as it is in North America – the struggles and challenges differ from place to place.
Clay as a material is malleable, thus it is able to be shaped in the artist’s vision. So, pottery can become a personal or political manifestation. As well as the aesthetic heritage, pottery is a record of the world around it, the zeitgeist and the society it was borne from. This is why recording and archiving these works are not only important for the art world but vital for history.
One of Julien’s aims in his work is to break down the barriers between different art forms like dance, film, poetry and so forth. So far this has been achieved and in doing so, Julien’s viewers are shown how to break down the perceived barriers of sexuality, class, culture and race.
