Jackson Co-Organizer + Panelist for April 2014 Film Event
Monday, April 28, 2014, 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
The Anonymous People
Film Screening and Discussion
Harvard Divinity School
Sperry Room, Andover Hall
45 Francis Avenue
Cambridge, MA
Join Artists in Context for the film screening and related discussion with:
Greg D. Williams, Director, The Anonymous People
Tomashi Jackson, Prospectus Artist
Michael Curry, President, NAACP Boston Branch
Laurie Martinelli, Executive Director, National Association of Mental Illness (NAMI) Massachusetts
Hannah Martinez, President, NAMI Dorchester/Mattapan/Roxbury
Nia K. Evans, Co-Creator, Frames Debate Project, Education Policy Analyst, Pumphouse Projects, Moderator
The Anonymous People is a feature documentary film about the over 23 million Americans living in long-term recovery from addition to alcohol and other drugs. Deeply entrenched social stigma and discrimination have kept recovery voices silent and faces hidden for decades. The vacuum created by this silence has been filled by sensational mass media descriptions of people in active addiction that continue to perpetuate a lurid public fascination with the dysfunctional side of what is a preventable and treatable health condition. The moving story of The Anonymous People is told through the faces and voices of leaders, volunteers, corporate executives, and celebrities who are laying it all on the line to save the lives of others just like them. This passionate new public recovery movement is fueling a changing conversation that aims to transform public opinion, and finally shift problematic policy toward lasting recovery solutions.
Director Greg Williams is a person in long-term recovery from alcohol and other drugs since age 17. Now 30, he is a health policy advocate and award-winning documentary filmmaker who specializes in the creation of compelling and purposeful content. The Anonymous People is Greg’s first independent feature-length film and is bringing lasting solutions to the screen for one of America’s top health problems. Currently in early theatrical release, The Anonymous People has already received widespread critical acclaim and a variety of industry awards.
The Anonymous People is being screened to raise awareness, develop interest and instigate conversation about a proposed Artists’ Prospectus for the Nation project tentatively titled FRAMES: Debate Series on Drug Policy, Mental Health Services and Justice in Massachusetts.For FRAMES, Prospectus artist Tomashi Jackson [participant in Alfredo Jaar’s Public Interventions course] and her collaborator, policy analyst Nia Evans, plan to use a multimedia policy debate platform to explore intersections of inadequately provided mental health care, addiction and drug policy in major cities in Massachusetts. Tomashi will produce a mixed-media sculpture installation and video collage to create a visually engaging space distinct from other formal debate forums. Jackson and Evans will work with community-based debate coaches and their teams at each site to collect digital imagery and narratives that are relevant to their gathered data on drug policy, addiction, mental illness and incarceration in Massachusetts. Tomashi plans to use multi-channel photography and short video compositions , digitally projected onto vertical surfaces, to effectively immerse the debate participants in vivid reflections from the impacted communities. The goal is to influence the ongoing public and private discourse by visualizing local narratives and reframing the issues with progressive research and without shame.Tomashi Jackson uses her own labor, livelihood, and migration narratives to construct sculptures , video and projection works, and portraits. Her work covers topics including labor, visibility, and memory, among others. Born in Houston and raised in Los Angeles, Jackson received a Master of Science degree in Art, Culture, and Technology from MIT and a BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.
