Transcending the Sublime: Arctic Creolisation in the Works of Isaac Julien and John Akomfrah

• Main Author: Lúthersdóttir, Helga Hlaðgerður
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Edinburgh University Press 2015
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9780748694174.003.0026

This chapter examines the aesthetic strategies and political impetus of contemporary film artists who challenge the notion of an Arctic explorer as a heroic white male, striding forth on his own to conquer the white sublime. Focusing on Isaac Julien’s video and art installation True North (2004) and John Akomfrah’s The Nine Muses (2010). Luthersdottir foregrounds the myriad ways in which these films and art works partake in a creolisation of the white Arctic. The chapter thereby foregrounds an overlooked and complementary historical and cinematic record, which is explicit about the significance of identity politics and colonial legacies in the north, rather than reifying established representational norms.