Winner Takes All

2024
Mixed Media, Acrylic on cardboard
31 × 36 in

Winner Takes All explores the way ambition, competition, and expectation are placed upon children before they fully understand the rules of the world around them. A young Black boy stares directly at the viewer from inside an oversized racing helmet, transforming childhood play into a metaphor for the race toward success. The peppers scattered across the helmet connect him to Haitian identity and heritage, while the bold commercial fragments behind him suggest a culture obsessed with winning, status, and being first. Yet his expression remains serious and vulnerable. Winner Takes All ultimately asks a larger question: in a world that teaches children that winning is everything, what does it actually mean to win?