Tomashi Jackson
After The Dance (Notting Hill Carnival 1976/LAPD raid on Project Blowed Leimert Park 1996), 2024
Acrylic, Los Angeles palm frond ash paste, black paper bags on raw canvas, poplin with brass grommets, two PVC vinyl strips
215.9 x 264.2 x 22.9 cm
85 x 104 x 9 in
85 x 104 x 9 in
Further images
“Painted across a series of geometric shapes composed of black bags and ash paste is an image taken from live documentary footage from Carnival of Tears (1976), produced by the...
“Painted across a series of geometric shapes composed of black bags and ash paste is an image taken from live documentary footage from Carnival of Tears (1976), produced by the British television news program TODAY. This still from the documentary depicts a large crowd of revellers gathered around steel drum players at the 1976 Notting Hill Carnival, playing in the tradition of community resistance to cultural and racial subjugation. The vinyl strips are digitally printed with an image of one of many Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers involved in an unprovoked raid of an open-mic Hip Hop event at the KAOS Network community arts centre in Leimert Park Village, 1996 - an attack on community space. The spaces between discernable images give pause for processing and working out of those emotional effects.
The surface of the work is constructed using a thick cotton canvas and white poplin acquired in London, used as a nod to men’s dress shirts and the class system. The geometric pattern is made using flattened sections of black paper bags that have been laminated onto the surface, with paper bag handles along its edges. The bag handles, reinforced and secured with acrylic matte gel medium, function along with brass grommets to stretch the work onto a hand-crafted wooden awning style frame.
Layered on top of these fabrics is a three-gradient layer of palm tree frond ash paste. The halftone line image is painted in three shades of orange tinted white acrylic paint using varying levels of dilution, which allows the pigment to soak into the black ash mixture with thin subtlety or opaque intensity. This compositional decision draws upon the once sought after technique of glass lamp adornment in which frosted glass lamp shades were painted with scenes on the inside, causing the image to become visible when the light of the lamp shone from within. This industrial practice was popularised in the 1800s by craftsmen and tradespeople working for the Pairpoint Glass Company in New Bedford, Massachusetts.” - Tomashi Jackson, 2024
The surface of the work is constructed using a thick cotton canvas and white poplin acquired in London, used as a nod to men’s dress shirts and the class system. The geometric pattern is made using flattened sections of black paper bags that have been laminated onto the surface, with paper bag handles along its edges. The bag handles, reinforced and secured with acrylic matte gel medium, function along with brass grommets to stretch the work onto a hand-crafted wooden awning style frame.
Layered on top of these fabrics is a three-gradient layer of palm tree frond ash paste. The halftone line image is painted in three shades of orange tinted white acrylic paint using varying levels of dilution, which allows the pigment to soak into the black ash mixture with thin subtlety or opaque intensity. This compositional decision draws upon the once sought after technique of glass lamp adornment in which frosted glass lamp shades were painted with scenes on the inside, causing the image to become visible when the light of the lamp shone from within. This industrial practice was popularised in the 1800s by craftsmen and tradespeople working for the Pairpoint Glass Company in New Bedford, Massachusetts.” - Tomashi Jackson, 2024