Between August 2008 and January 2009, Nicola Green witnessed, first-hand, Barack Obama’s meteoric ascent to power as the first African-American President of the United States. Over six trips across the country, Green gained unprecedented artistic access to President Obama’s monumental campaign. From the infamous DNC nomination speech in Denver, to election night in Chicago, to Inauguration in Washington D.C. Green was behind-the-scenes taking photographs, making sketches, and having conversations with press, staff and citizens.
Green’s intention was to make a portrait of the Presidential hopeful, to understand why this story had captured the interest of the entire world. As the story began to unfold she was struck by the implications Obama’s campaign would have for future generations, and particularly for her three children who, like President Obama, have mixed heritage.
“I began to think deeply when I was pregnant with our first son about how my children would experience the world differently to me by virtue of the colour of their skin. I wanted to understand what that would mean for them. So I started thinking about role models, how the world would see them, how they would see the world.” - Nicola Green
Green focused on her role as a witness on behalf of her children. She watched President Obama speak at his 2008 DNC nomination, on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s momentous ‘I have a Dream’ address. Green began to reflect on the wider trajectory of history of Obama’s campaign. She realised it would be many years until we could truly understand the impact, across the world, of Obama’s election on the next generation. She spent years reflecting upon what she had witnessed, and what she had recorded before creating In Seven Days.