THROUGH A MIRROR, DARKLY
THROUGH A MIRROR, DARKLY, a new three-channel film by Naeem Mohaiemen revisits the turbulent 1970s in America, a decade of hopeful rebellions and catastrophic disappointments.
The decade of the 1970s is repeatedly revisited by Mohaiemen, who explores the promise and heartbreak of revolutionary uprisings through films, photography, drawings, and essays.
THROUGH A MIRROR, DARKLY focuses on crisis moments in May 1970 when American students protesting domestic racism and overseas wars were met by state violence. The work brings together the Kent State shootings on 4 May, in which four students were killed, and the fatal shooting of two students at Jackson State, a Historically Black College, just 10 days later.
By choreographing the relationship between archival footage and contemporary ceremonies memorialising the dead, THROUGH A MIRROR, DARKLY, explores the role of memorials as a focal point for individual and collective grief. By comparing Kent and Jackson State, the project underscores blind spots around racialised violence and class tensions, made concrete in the disparity in coverage of these two campus shootings. The inclusion of stage-managed press conferences reveals the political machinations of the Nixon administration who fuelled a backlash to antiwar protests.
The film presents these intersecting strands, weaving together the voices of key political players, student leaders, and the fabled “man on the street” alongside Vietnam veterans, to propose new interpretations of the events of May 1970 and their lasting impact.
KEY EXHIBITIONS
London, UK
Commissioned and produced by Artangel in partnership with Film and Video Umbrella and Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University. Supported by Experimenter. Presented in London with thanks to Blue Orchid Hospitality and Central London Alliance.
Columbus, USA
Wexner Center for the Arts, January 2026
Nottingham, UK
Bonington Gallery, March-May 2026
Glasgow, UK
The Hunterian Gallery at The University of Glasgow, June-September 2026
Southampton, UK
John Hansard Gallery, October 2026-January 2027
PRESS
FAD Magazine, “It is easy to romanticise the 70s and to feel nostalgic about a simpler life in the good old days of long hair, bell bottoms and psychedelic wallpapers. With his film Naeem Mohaiemen provides a powerful remedy and puts current affairs into painful context.” (Meike Brunkhorst, 2025)
The Guardian, “Mohaiemen forgoes a narrator or dogmatic agenda for multiple colliding images that leave you always feeling you are missing something, sowing doubt and ambiguity. One thread concerns the nature of public memory. Who gets memorialised and why? What makes one victim of violence a ‘martyr’ while others are forgotten?” (Jonathan Jones, 2025)
TANK Magazine, “Placed side by side, the asymmetries of remembrance in THROUGH A MIRROR, DARKLY are a reminder of how memory is always shaped by race, power, and the stories a nation wishes to tell itself.” (Matteo Pini, 2025)
Art Review Magazine, “The evident hierarchy of the visuals is an indication that the artist’s project is not about dissecting past events per se; rather it’s about centring the way in which narratives surrounding those events have evolved as time progresses.” (Oliver Basciano, 2025)