The blank, glazed over stare of a young African-American boy pierces into patrons as they experience the current exhibition on display in the Cleve Carney Gallery: Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib’s “Dark Light.”

The eyes electrify through an almost ghostly looking boy, providing the feeling of danger and fear to those who witness him. His eyes share the fear of many African-Americans through history and to this very day. “Dark Light’s” art is rooted in racism from past and present, contrasting the disgusting prejudice from America’s past but reminding visitors how it still lives on.

The most inviting feature of the gallery is the theater created by the adjustable gallery walls. It screens Hironaka and Suib’s 10-minute film, “Writing History with Lightning.” The film loops sequences from the 1915 racist propaganda film, “The Birth of a Nation” in complete darkness.

D.W. Griffith’s film recounts the Civil War, holds the Ku Klux Klan as heroes, and degrades African-Americans. The film was one of the first to be shown at the White House under Woodrow Wilson.

Artists Hironaka and Suib pay homage to Freddie Gray, a black man who died in police custody, and the Black Lives Matter movement, through the usage of the Parkway Theatre in its images. It had been the location of the film as well as protests that broke out after Gray’s death in 2015.

The loops are projected onto the theater where the silent film had originally been premiered, the Parkway Theatre. Music is played in reverse, filling listeners with a sense of unease. Ku Klux Klan members riding on horses, happy and wealthy white men and women dance around, and groups of African-Americans fighting against oppressors are shown. It ends with the same boy’s eyes, filled with hopelessness.

Dark, almost black images are posted along the stark white walls of the gallery. Those image contrast with intense LED lights placed along the walls as well as hanging from the ceiling. As you look into the dark images, you can see your own shadow in the strange rainbow reflection provided by the glass and LEDs. A reminder of your place in society and placing yourself within the art as well.

Images include various parts of the Parkway Theatre in wreckage. The building became vacant in 1998. The walls have had chipped paint; the wood has begun to give way. When “The Birth of a Nation” opened, the theater was at its high: a lavish gathering space for the white and the wealthy. Seen as a historic building associated with the oppression of blacks in America by Hironaka and Suib, they chose to show the public how it appears now.

“Dark Light” is on display Monday through Thursday until March 4 in the Cleve Carney Gallery.