Organised by Roundhouse
Self-taught multidisciplinary artist Jadine Downes debuts her first series that aims to champion Caribbean households’ family values through a reflection on her childhood from the perspective of her Trinidadian father with a fixation on his love for the Lottery.
In the series titled Lottery Man, Jadine presents a 4-part collection of oil paintings, a short video, a 3D sculpture render and photography work.
Jadine explores the narrative of her very boisterous father while she retraces moments of growing up in a bustling and colourful household with her 5 brothers and 2 sisters. While pushing the meditative undertones of the importance of family in a fast paced city.
Jadine finds her father’s relationship with the lottery as a metaphor of hope, in its rawest form. To only pay up to £3 and in return get millions seemed too good to be true yet it didn’t stop those around her from playing, in particular her father. With an almost innocent and naïve approach towards acquiring wealth and material, playing the lottery was the first expression of the feelings of hope she was exposed to.
Exploring her Father’s journey navigating the UK as a Trinidadian, Jadine strays from the more cold fact narratives of raising a large family in London and instead using the lottery lens as a means of divulging hopes and aspirations in black father figures.