'"The whole film,” says Stan Douglas, “is a bizarre racist fantasy. I watched it numerous times – but then stopped because I was so horrified.” The Canadian artist is talking about The Birth of a Nation, one of the most controversial films in Hollywood history, a three-hour silent drama directed by DW Griffith based on an earlier, obsolete novel by Thomas Dixon Jr. After its release in 1915, it provoked riots across the US for its glorification of the Ku Klux Klan. The film is widely deemed responsible for reinvigorating the Klan’s reputation and bolstering its membership. Despite attempts to ban it, The Birth of a Nation broke box-office records.'
'A master of the remix, Douglas is known for films and photographs that splice together the lowbrow and the lofty, turning fiction into fact, suturing landscapes and reshuffling the past. Previous works include an immersive six-hour video of an improvised jam session by a fictional 1970s band, while he has used photography to recreate the crowds at major riots around the world. He has also reworked films by Alfred Hitchcock, Dario Argento and Orson Welles. His latest show, which has just opened at Victoria Miro in London, features his remake of The Birth of a Nation.' — Charlotte Jansen
Image: installation view, Stan Douglas: Birth of a Nation and The Enemy of All MankindVictoria Miro, Gallery I, 16 Wharf Road, London N1 7RW
26 September–1 November 2025
© Stan Douglas
Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro
