Jack Fowler: “There's an infinite amount of mixes you can have – everyone looks so unique”
The artist on the blessings of mixedness, racial discrimination and making the Saints proud
Hi, welcome back to Mixed Messages! This week I’m speaking to artist Jack Fowler, who is of mixed-St Helenian and white heritage. You may recognise Jack from Love Island, where he earned the affectionate nickname ‘OluwaJack’ in reference to his closeness to the Black community. Yet it came as a shock to many when Jack shared that he was actually mixed-race in an emotional post about the discrimination faced by his dad. In our conversation, Jack speaks movingly about not reading as Black, how his upbringing has influenced the way he lives his life and more. Read it below.
Tell me a bit about your family history.
My grandparents on my dad’s side are from St Helena, a very, very small island owned by England of about six to ten thousand people. It’s only really known because Napoleon was exiled there. To my knowledge, it was a stop off point for Asian, West Indian and African slaves, so it’s a very mixed island.
My grandparents came to Portsmouth just after Windrush, arriving at a time of ‘no Blacks, no dogs, no Irish.’ They both came with just a suitcase and the clothes that they were wearing, and my nan was just 16 years old. They met in the UK, then fast forward ten, twenty years, they had five sons, including my dad.
How have you defined your racial identity over time?
I’ve always ticked white on forms, but I make sure to explain that I’m St Helenian to people. I have to get my world map out because nobody knows where it is. I’m proud that I was able to get people knowing where it is! Searches shot up after people found out I was from there.
I’d love to go back to St Helena. I have family there, cousins who I don’t even know exist. My dad and his brothers have never been – it’s expensive and difficult to get there.
What was it like growing up with mixed heritage?
I saw two different ways of life, which is quite cool. As a young kid I didn’t notice, but looking back I can definitely see the differences of having a dad who is St Helenian and a mum from East London. I had the best of both worlds, especially with music. I was blessed with all different genres, like soul, ska, reggae and Motown – good Motown that you’re not going to get anymore. Back then, it was all about the instruments and not too much about what’s on the computer.
I think I was quite lucky in that sense, getting that rich flavour for music from such a young age. When I was 10, everyone was listening to Usher, which is still wicked, but I used to go and listen to Barry White. Not a lot of kids knew about that, so it was quite fun. Different, but fun.
Were there any other ways you connected with your St Helenian culture?
The cuisine. The island has so many different nationalities because of its Portuguese roots and then the influence of the slave trade, so I was raised with curried goat, plantain and lots of spice. That’s the opposite of my mum, who grew up on herbs. I definitely think that growing up with a dad who was brought up on curries and things like that gave me a wider insight into flavours around the world.
Because my dad was caught up in a lot of racial discrimination, he taught me a lot about that from a young age. Where I was raised in East London, there were a lot of cultures there but not as many as there are now. I always found that my white friends wouldn’t have many Black friends, but I had white, Black, Asian friends. I didn’t see them as anything but my friends, and I never thought anything of that until I looked back on my schooling. I think my dad being involved in the Black community influenced that.
So how did you feel about the ‘OluwaJack’ title that Bolu Babalola gave you after Love Island? Did it feel like you were being erased?
First of all I didn’t know what Oluwa meant! My friends explained it to me, and told me that I was a big topic on Black Twitter. I embraced Black Jack and OluwaJack, it was a sign of me being accepted into the culture. I didn’t go on the show trying to e accepted by Black culture, I just went on as me and ended up with this nickname. I was laughing, thinking “it’s half true!”
Many people were surprised to discover that you were mixed-race after you shared a post about your dad on Instagram. What made you want to talk about him at that time?
People didn’t know [that I was mixed-race] when I was on Love Island, and doing reality TV was my choice. I didn’t want to bring my parents into it or make their lives difficult – my mum and dad work in corporate jobs where it wouldn’t have been fair on them to have people come up and say ‘Jack’s doing this or that’. I wanted them to have normal lives, so I just kept them out of it.
I didn’t feel the need to bring my family into the limelight for a couple of years, but when George Floyd passed away in 2020 it was obviously a worldwide topic. The post came out during that period of time because it felt like people were saying ‘you’re only [commenting about George Floyd] because you want to be part of Black culture and you feel like you have to after how you were taken in by Black people when you came off the show.’
When I came out of the show, I was very much embraced by Black culture, but people on Twitter sometimes said I was a culture vulture. I was sitting here thinking, ‘that’s not the case.’ It felt like it was the right time to let people know that I'm very lucky to have two sides, a white mum and a Black dad.
My dad went through racism and he told me from a very young age about it, the upbringing he had and being streetwise. He taught me a lot, and that was unique and special in a way because it gave me insight into a culture that I wouldn’t really be involved in if I was a typical white guy from East London.
I didn’t think too much about the post, ultimately it’s just me posting my dad. I didn’t think it was a big thing. But I think it came as a shock to quite a few people.
Did you ever speak to your family about being mixed?
I think we did. One time I was training at football and I don’t even know how this conversation came up but one of the coaches said “we don’t have any Black players because they’re quick, but they’re late.” When my dad came to pick me up, he made the connection and realised what he’d said. They were surprised.
I was quite young, and I suppose at that moment in time I didn’t really know what racism was. I knew it was bad, but it went over my head a bit. My dad explained it to me in the car on the way home, and that was the first time I really understood what was going on. I think that was the time my dad realised that I’m of an age where it’s unfortunately happening around me, and he could see that I wasn’t 100% okay with it. From that day on, he explained what happened to him, to be aware of what might happen to me and what to do if I got into certain situations.
Do you think there are stereotypes of what it means to be mixed?
I think a lot of people think being mixed is having one Black and one white parent, expecting that stereotypical ‘mixed-race’ colour skin, whatever that is. But there are so many other mixes, there’s literally an infinity amount of mixes that you can have – everyone looks so different and unique, that’s what’s amazing.
What's one of the best things about being mixed?
It’s made me more open and patient. I can see things from different points of view.
Can you define your mixed identity in one word?
Honourable. I’m honoured to have the family and the upbringing I’ve had. I’m proud to be St Helenian and to have made the Saints, which is what Saint Helenians are known as, proud.
Next week I’ll be talking to makeup artist Nicky Weir. Subscribe to get Mixed Messages in your inbox on Monday.
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Mixed Messages is a weekly exploration of the mixed-race experience, from me, Isabella Silvers. My mom is Punjabi (by way of East Africa) and my dad is white British, but finding my place between these two cultures hasn’t always been easy. That’s why I started Mixed Messages, where each week I’ll speak to a prominent mixed voice to delve into what it really feels like to be mixed.