Stan Douglas’ Bold Exhibition Envisions a Future Inspired by the Past
Stan Douglas’s latest exhibition at Bard College’s Hessel Museum of Art in Upstate New York features a compelling video installation at its core. The display is both mesmerizing and disturbing, prompting multiple viewings.
Titled “Birth of a Nation,” the video installation is a reinterpretation of a segment from D. W. Griffith’s seminal film of the same name from 1915. Griffith’s movie, while groundbreaking in cinematic techniques, perpetuated racist imagery and themes. Douglas takes a particularly troubling scene from Griffith’s film and reimagines it, creating a new narrative from the original’s fragments.
In Griffith’s film, Flora, a white woman, spurns a marriage proposal from Gus, a Black freedman. Gus’s persistence leads to tragic consequences, with Flora’s death and Gus’s lynching by her Klansman brother Ben. Douglas’s version of this sequence remains faithful to the original but introduces subtle changes. For example, Flora admires a squirrel instead of a bird, and the lynching scene includes a burning cross—an addition not present in Griffith’s work.
Douglas expands the story by adding four new videos that provide alternative perspectives to the original characters’ actions. Despite mirroring Griffith’s filming style with black-and-white visuals and no sound, Douglas injects his unique creative vision into the scenes. The introduction of new characters, such as a ghost named Gus, further highlights Douglas’s imaginative approach.
Following the harrowing lynching scene, one of Douglas’s videos transitions to color as the actors and a horse exit the set. The blue screen left behind symbolizes the possibility of change and evolution within the imagery. Instead of adding new elements in post-production, Douglas deliberately leaves the backdrop empty, underscoring the fluidity and adaptability of his artwork.
Originally created for a major exhibition in Los Angeles focused on monuments, this reimagined “Birth of a Nation” challenges viewers to confront the past. By deconstructing Griffith’s controversial classic and reconstructing it through a contemporary lens, Douglas prompts reflection on history, representation, and the power of artistic reinterpretation.