Julianknxx
Images
Biography
Julianknxx works between poetry, film, and performance. Engaging with traditions of oral history and working with a distinctive aesthetic approach, Julianknxx is concerned with the construction of local and global narratives. His practice draws on his personal experiences – casting them as a ‘living archive’ or ‘history from below’ – to broaden perspectives on the history and culture of Africa and its diasporas, seeking to find ways of expressing the realities of human experiences while examining the structures which govern how we live.
Julianknxx (b. 1987, Sierra Leone) lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions include Shifting/Spirit/Time, BURO Stedelijk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2025); Chorus In Rememory of Flight, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain (2025); The Model, Sligo, Ireland (2025); Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal (2025); DeSingel, Antwerp, Belgium (2024); Barbican, London, UK (2023); and In Praise of Still Boys, 180 The Strand, London, UK (2021). Recent group exhibitions include Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2025); Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, UAE (2025); A World in Common, C/O Berlin, Germany (2025); Reverb, 180 The Strand, London, UK (2024); Poetic Resolution, LUX, Seoul, South Korea (2023); A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography, Tate, London, UK (2023), Rites of Passage, Gagosian, London, UK (2023), Air, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, US (2022),The London Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2022); The View From There, Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK (2021); and Contra La Raza, Matadero, Madrid, Spain (2021). Recent performances include Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2021), OT301, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2020), Southbank Centre, London, UK (2019, 2018), Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK (2019) and BBC Radio 5. Julianknxx’s work is in the Arts Council Collection, London, UK.
Works
News
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Julianknxx in Wallpaper*
Frieze London is back! Here’s what to see by Amah-Rose Abrams 2 October 2025As London gears up for Frieze 2025 (15-19 October), plan your visit early. Art Week is back, and London is ready. There are 168 galleries...Read more -
Julianknxx in Elephant
Julianknxx and the Spirit of Performance by Precious Adesina 14 April 2025Through poetic repetition, moving image, and a resonant sense of memory, Julianknxx's exhibition at Buro Stedelijk transforms fleeting performance into a spiritual archive. Last spring,...Read more -
Julianknxx in Numéro
In conversation with Julianknxx by Nia Topalova 20 February 2025Julianknxx is a poet, artist, and filmmaker, known for his extensive research and commitment to (re)visiting places and people for collaboration. He transforms sound into...Read more -
Julianknxx in the Financial Times
Artist Julianknxx: ‘There’s a release and relief when people sing together’ by Charlotte Jansen 10 October 2023The Sierra Leonean filmmaker’s new installation at London’s Barbican features videos with choirs performing his poems. From somewhere deep in the dark belly of the...Read more -
Julianknxx in Aesthetica
Say it in Chorus: Julianknxx at Barbican 4 October 2023“You can change with the Other while being yourself, you are not one, you are multiple, and you are yourself.” These are the words of...Read more -
Julianknxx in i-D
Julianknxx’s expansive visions of Blackness by Maia Welbel 25 September 2023A new exhibition at London's Barbican explores themes of inheritance, loss & belonging through the artist's personal lens. Julianknxx resists definition. The London -based artist...Read more -
Julianknxx in frieze
Local Talent: London-based Artists at Frieze 2023 19 September 2023Frieze London and Frieze Masters spotlight London-based artists, past and present, in The Regent's Park, 11–15 October 2023. This year, Frieze London celebrates its 20th...Read more -
Julianknxx in The Guardian
‘Whatever you offer, I’ll take’: the poet who crossed Europe filming Black experience by Tshepo Mokoena 12 September 2023Poet and artist Julianknxx took his camera around the continent, filming people sing, dance, recite poetry – or refuse to do anything but sleep. As...Read more