STARTING OUT: BALLET, OPERA AND THE DEVILS

In 1967, while studying painting and set design at Slade Art School, Derek Jarman (1943–1994) was selected for the prestigious Young Contemporaries. Like David Hockney, who had featured in the exhibition only a few years earlier, Jarman was one to watch.

After graduating, he was quickly snapped up by the Royal Ballet and Sadler’s Wells Opera. In 1971, he got his first big film break as the set designer for Ken Russell’s infamous The Devils – a provocative take on religion, corruption and sexual repression that was banned in several countries. Right from the beginning, Jarman was a multidisciplinary artist, pushing the boundaries of conventional art.

SIGNATURE STYLE: ARTHOUSE AND EXPERIMENTAL

Derek Jarman’s work explores British identity, culture and history through a queer, political lens. His films span time periods and genres – moving from third century AD in Sebastiane (1976) to contemporary punk in Jubilee (1978) to a dystopian future in The Last of England (1987).

Stylistically, Jarman’s films are experimental and visually driven. He often eschews linear narratives. Take War Requiem (1989) – a visual interpretation of Benjamin Britten’s orchestral masterpiece, which was interwoven with World War I poetry by Wilfred Owen. Jarman shuns dialogue for Owen’s poetry, dreamy montages and archival war footage, creating a harrowing portrait of war.

MAJOR THEMES: QUEERING HISTORY…

Derek Jarman’s filmography looks beyond the heterosexual narratives of history, providing queer readings of famous figures and texts.

In Caravaggio (1986), Jarman explores the life and death of the famed Renaissance painter via a complicated love triangle. We watch Caravaggio paint while overcome with desire. Jarman recreates the tableaux with posing actors, minimal staging and soft lighting – and the film becomes a gorgeous, queer Caravaggio painting. Corrupt cardinals and jarring props (yes, that’s a typewriter in the 17th century) emphasise the film’s contemporary resonance.

The film launched the careers of Tilda Swinton and Sean Bean. Hint: if you spot a young Tilda Swinton, it’s probably a Derek Jarman film!

… AND RENAISSANCE LITERATURE

Of all Shakespeare’s plays, The Tempest is perhaps the strangest. Who better to capture its otherworldly essence than Derek Jarman?

During filming, Jarman lived on set at the atmospheric Stoneleigh Abbey with a Shakespearean-style troupe of actors – not far from the playwright’s birthplace, Stratford-Upon-Avon. The result is a magical version of The Tempest (1979), best known for Elisabeth Welch’s famed rendition of Stormy Weather.

Jarman returned to Shakespeare with The Angelic Conversation (1985), in which Judi Dench recites the Sonnets. He also tackled Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II (1991), which explores the tragedy and downfall of the gay king. Jarman uses the historical setting to explore contemporary issues – in this case, homophobia – just as Shakespeare and Marlowe did.

PROSPECT COTTAGE

In 1986, after receiving a positive HIV diagnosis, Derek Jarman moved to a fisherman’s cottage on Dungeness Beach, Kent, which sits in the shadow of a nuclear power station.

Prospect Cottage was a site of creativity and healing for Jarman. He cultivated a sculpture garden, wrote Modern Nature (part gardening journal, part autobiography) and filmed The Last of England and The Garden there. With yellow window frames, jet-black panelling and John Donne’s poetry inscribed on the walls, Prospect Cottage became an extension of his artwork and symbol of defiance.

Today, Prospect Cottage is a museum and creative space after Art Fund led a successful bid to buy the property. It stands as a testament to Jarman’s enduring legacy, inspiring a new generation of artists.

BEYOND THE SCREEN

Derek Jarman’s work extends far beyond cinema to painting, bookmaking, writing and more. He was a visual artist at heart, creating beautiful, hand-made notebooks to map each of his film projects. He directed several music videos for The Smiths, Pet Shop Boys and Marianne Faithfull.

Jarman was at the forefront of the gay rights movement – one of few contemporary figures to publicise and talk openly about having a HIV diagnosis. His politics are embedded in his paintings and filmography. In 1991, he was canonised by an activist group of queer nuns called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

BLUE NOW

As AIDS progressed, Jarman started to lose his sight; after treatment at St Mary’s Hospital in London he was often left only being able to see the colour blue. In 1993, just months before his death, this experience became the catalyst of his final feature film. BLUE (1993) is an unchanging shot of celestial blue, during which we hear Jarman reading passages from his diary alongside meditations on illness, mortality and lost loved ones – a text which was originally voiced by Nigel Terry, John Quentin, Tilda Swinton and Jarman himself. 

Thirty years later, director Neil Bartlett revisits BLUE with a cast of queer and queer-ally performers. Travis Alabanza, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Jay Bernard and Joelle Taylor bring a distinctively contemporary perspective to the text of BLUE. As they deliver Jarman’s collage of words, the film’s original composer Simon Fisher Turner collaborates with cellist Lucy Railton to create a new, improvised score, incorporating motifs and sounds from the 1994 original.

In the spirit of Derek Jarman, BLUE NOW speaks to our contemporary moment and celebrates those who continue to fight against prejudice. A fitting tribute to the life, love and work of a visionary artist. 

BLUE NOW is at Aviva Studios on Sunday 8 December 2024.