Birth of a Nation

Birth of a Nation
Directed byJames Benning
Directed by
James Benning
This three-channel video installation by James Benning shows three scenes from David Wark Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915). The two-minute-long screen arrangement of imperceptibly moving images alludes to the beginning of racism. The three screens each show a solider in the American Civil War, black slaves picking cotton in the field, and imposing KKK.
installation
reinterpretation
Last Updated: September 16, 2023