London – Artist Stan Douglas is challenging ancient narratives wiht two concurrent exhibitions-a meticulous recreation of D.W. Griffith‘s notoriously racist 1915 film The Birth of a Nation,and a cinematic sequel to John gay’s The beggar’s Opera,titled The Enemy of All Mankind: nine Scenes from John Gay’s Polly. The projects, on view at Victoria Miro gallery in London until November 1st, confront legacies of racial prejudice and colonial power structures through ambitious visual storytelling.
Douglas’s Birth of a Nation is a shot-for-shot remake of Griffith’s original, employing a predominantly Black cast and meticulously recreating the film’s sets and costumes. The artist’s intent isn’t celebration, but a critical examination of the film’s enduring impact and the racist fantasies it perpetuated-a film that glorified the Ku Klux Klan and presented a deeply distorted view of Reconstruction-era America. Concurrently, The enemy of All Mankind, filmed in the mountains of Jamaica with Hollywood production effects and costumes borrowed from New York’s Metropolitan Opera, offers a counter-narrative to imperial hierarchies. It’s a sequel to Gay’s the Beggar’s Opera, exploring themes of misidentification and racial perception.
The Enemy of All Mankind follows Polly’s journey through the Caribbean as she searches for her exiled husband, a former indentured laborer turned pirate, Macheath. The opera, considered too critical of Britain’s colonial ambitions at the time, was censored during Gay’s lifetime. Douglas views pirates as early proponents of radical politics, stating, “Back then, pirate ships weren’t like in the Disney movies. They were like democracies on water.” His work also draws on research into Maroon societies-communities of escaped slaves who established autonomous societies in the Americas, some of which thrived in jamaica for centuries.
The artist acknowledges the inherent limitations of liberation narratives, noting, “This whole idea of liberation has a dark side that always comes back on itself,” as the pirates in The Enemy of All Mankind ultimately face defeat, mirroring the original opera’s conclusion.Both exhibitions aim to provide alternative perspectives on history, while acknowledging its complexities and potential for repeating past injustices.
