Orion Isaacs is a writer-director and interdisciplinary artist.
Orion Isaacs is a film director and writer based in London. They also work across installation, live performance and visual art — seeking to reveal points of connection between seemingly disparate communities and individuals. As a filmmaker, Orion leads with questions surrounding character dignity, intergenerational intimacy, parenthood, the inner worlds of children, diaspora perspectives, queer desire, and memory.
They earned an MA & MFA from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in Writing For Stage & Film, where they are now a lecturer.
Orion has exhibited at the V&A Museum, The Southbank Centre, Live Art Development Agency (LADA), WOW! Festival, Rich Mix, Fringe! Film Festival, Rosa Kwir Malta, Battersea Arts Centre, New York Theatre Workshop, Stanley Arts, UK Jewish Film Festival, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and across London's LGBTQIA+ performance venues. Their work has been featured in Dazed, The British Journal of Photography and Candy Transversal Magazine.
Selected Projects
To Change, 2024
‘To Change’ is a music video that Orion directed and produced for the musician Rubie. The film is a love letter to trans sisterhood and the life-sustaining connections that take place within a chosen family. As the film builds, with vulnerable moments of care and sisterly protection, Rubie’s magnetic performance carries us towards a finale that demands our full and undivided attention.
The film was selected by QueerIArt’s T4TV screening in NYC. As part of this selection, Orion was invited to participate in a panel discussion with special guest Lilly Wachowski.
You can watch the film here.
Greatest Star, 2023
‘Greatest Star’ is a short documentary about DJ and organiser of Lavender Nights, Jo Gattenberg ~ and how Barbra Streisand has profoundly influenced her life.
Orion directed the film, which was selected by UK Jewish Film as one of their five Short Doc Fund winners and premiered at their festival in November, 2023. The film made its international premiere as an official selection for the 44th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, 2024.
Your Rings On Me, 2023
‘Your Rings On Me’ is a live solo performance that meditates on the significance of jewellery in Jewish diaspora histories. In this non-verbal, physically led work, Orion uses their movement and a reactive soundscape by Giora, to be in conversation with rings they inherited from their Grandmother. From this personal root, Isaacs connects with an embodied language for Jewish ancestral stories of migration and displacement.
Commissioned by Raze Collective & Stanley Arts.
t-fags, 2022
Collaborating with fellow artist and romantic partner El Hardwick, ‘t-fags’ is a project that aims to photograph and interview trans men, transmasc and non-binary T4T (trans for trans) individuals, couples and polycules who self-identify with the term ‘fag’.
The project launched with a collection of portraits (styled by Nathan Henry) and interviews published in Candy Transversal Magazine, before being expanded into a larger installation for Rosa Kwir in Malta. Orion creative directed the project in addition to interviewing participants, which were then woven into a soundscape.
Featured press: British Journal of Photography, Dazed
Passing Gloves, 2022
Supported by Arts Council England, ‘Passing Gloves’ is an immersive exhibition that celebrates the lost and forgotten stories of Jewish boxers in the UK. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Orion interviewed Jewish families across London and Manchester, who have a connection to the world of boxing, either first hand or through ancestral ties.
Alongside family archives and oral histories, Orion intersperses their own photo-series and short film in collaboration with Sweatmother. The series is a visual dialogue with the lost Jewish boxing archive, confronting the audience with questions surrounding Jewish masculinity, spiritual and physical endurance, and boxing’s rich history of empowering the marginalised. The combination of soundscape by Giora, theatre lighting techniques, suspended objects and the visual story elements, creates an exhibition that is both intimate and impactful. The exhibition launched with Rich Mix and was produced by and co-curated with Adam R. Hemmings.
Click here to see an extended portfolio of the moving image, photographic and audio works contained in the exhibition.
Cramps, 2018 - 2020
Cramps is a drag persona, incorporating deconstructed drag queen aesthetics, punk music, physical endurance art and guerrilla theatre.
Under the moniker, Orion launched ‘Urinal Residency’, in 2018 - a live performance installation that transforms men’s toilets into a bedroom. Orion showcased ‘Urinal Residency’ at Live Art Development Agency (LADA) and went on to perform the work as part of The V&A Museum’s ‘(De)constructed Masculinities’ programme.
From 2019 to 2020, Orion produced and curated a monthly performance club night (also named ‘Cramps’) at The Chateau in Southeast London. The event provided a platform for artists who expand the parameters of drag, cabaret and nightlife performance art. Orion has been a mentor on Soho Theatre’s Cabaret & Drag Lab and continues to offer support and direction to up-and-coming drag artists.
He Laughs, 2021
The play, ‘He Laughs’ was written and digitally performed by Orion for Southbank Centre’s 2021 edition of WOW! Festival. Through riffs on Jewish mythology and biblical stories, the play follows a modern-day pilgrimage home. After 13-years of exile, a young man travels on foot to his childhood town. On his way, he meets shedim שֵׁד spirits who take the forms of old friends, lovers and family.
Voice (1-on-1 sessions and group facilitation)
Orion works with trained and untrained singers to develop breath control, stamina, range, tone, projection, the relationship between chest/mix/head registers and confidence around connecting body to the voice’s full capacity.
Orion trained in classical and jazz singing from a young age. With over 20 years experience as a vocalist, they offer students a framework for understanding techniques and supporting maintenance of vocal health.
1-on-1 sessions are catered to the individual. Some students are experienced singers, whilst others are coming to the room to connect with their voice for the first time. Orion’s practice is sensitive to the role that lived experience can play in vocal expression. They have conducted extensive research on the relationship between singing and mental & physical health. Their trauma-informed approach is holistic and acknowledges how our voices are affected by our inner world and personal histories.
Orion encourages students to lead on what they wish to explore for each session — whether that be focussing on a specific technique, rehearsing a song or set, having the opportunity to experiment with their sound in a dedicated space, or diving into a meditation through drone and breath-work.
Click the button below to enquire. Do not hesitate to outline any access requirements when getting in touch.
Orion is also available to facilitate group workshops for events and public programming. Get in touch above to enquire.