Los Angeles Times

"Review: Hank Willis Thomas, Tomashi Jackson and a different kind of color theory." By Sharon Mizota.

FEB. 6, 2020 12:03 PM PT

"During a recent residency in Athens, Jackson became interested in Greece as the birthplace of democracy, tracing how the right to vote has expanded slowly and often painfully across time and geography. The paintings don’t always tell this story clearly, but a video, “We’re All Gonna Go (Greeks on Sadness, Happiness, and Liberation),” brings these issues together more succinctly.

The video portrays Jackson as her alter ego, R&B crooner Tommy Tonight, lip syncing to Curtis Mayfield’s 1970 song “(Don’t Worry) If There’s Hell Below We’re All Gonna Go.” He cavorts on an Athens rooftop with Greek artist Eleni Mylonas, who is wearing a military-style jacket and a headpiece adorned with a tiny Statue of Liberty.

The video brings otherwise odd bedfellows together in a bit of fun, knitting together concerns about democracy, civil rights and gender through the lens of pop culture. Unlike the paintings, which at times feel overwhelmed by complexity, the video feels frankly hopeful and inclusive."