THROUGH A MIRROR, DARKLY

“In Corinthians 13:12, ‘through a glass, darkly’ meant the impossibility of viewing the full scope of divine plans. In a more earthly, secular context, I consider the memorialization of the Vietnam War era, and how the farther away we get in years, the hazier the many meanings of events in the mirror of memory become.”
– Naeem Mohaiemen

Naeem Mohaiemen’s new three-channel film, THROUGH A MIRROR, DARKLY examines the turbulent 1970s, a decade of hopeful rebellions and catastrophic disappointments, via flashpoint moments when American students protesting domestic racism and overseas wars were met by state violence in May 1970.

As the Vietnam War came to its bloody end, for the American media, the memory of four American students shot dead at Kent State University was sometimes as emotionally charged as the millions of deaths in Vietnam.

In the decades that followed, a memorial community has formed around the “four dead in Ohio.” Yet while the deaths of students Alison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William Schroeder at Kent State, Ohio, are remembered, not many recall Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two students killed ten days later by police officers at Jackson State College, Mississippi, a Historically Black College.

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 fueled a backlash to antiwar protests. 

Mohaiemen deftly 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.

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Please note this film contains historic content featuring racialised language, images and graphic descriptions of violence, including death, acts of war and torture. It may not be suitable for viewers under 16 years of age.

Image: Naeem Mohaiemen, Still from THROUGH A MIRROR, DARKLY, three-channel film, 2025. Courtesy of Artangel. 

Image credit (left): Taslima Akhtar

The work is presented at Albany House in central London, the former home of the British Transport Police. The building is a stone’s throw from the government seat of power in Westminster and in close proximity to Whitehall, Parliament Square and the Ministry of Justice.

Image (left): Courtesy of Tuckerman Commercial Limited

THROUGH A MIRROR, DARKLY by Naeem Mohaiemen is commissioned and produced by Artangel.

Commissioned in partnership with Film and Video Umbrella and The Wexner Center for the Arts. 

Supported by Experimenter.

Exhibition Partners: The Hunterian, Glasgow, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton and Bonington Gallery, Nottingham. 

Presented in London with thanks to Blue Orchid.

Artangel and FVU is generously supported using public funding by Arts Council England. Artangel is generously supported by the the private patronage of The Artangel International Circle, Special Angels and The Company of Angels.