In Seven Days…

“My hope is that In Seven Days... creates a dialogue around all that is possible for our people when we presume the inherent goodness in one another and work in common effort, with a bright optimism and compassionate hearts.”

President Obama, Letter to the National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC, December 21, 2019

Between August 2008 and January 2009, Nicola Green witnessed first-hand Barack Obama’s historic ascent to becoming the first African American President of the United States. Across six trips throughout the U.S., she gained unprecedented artistic access to the campaign trail, moving through key moments including the Democratic National Convention in Denver, election night in Grant Park, Chicago, and the inauguration in Washington, D.C. Green moved through rallies, official events, and public gatherings, taking photographs, making sketches, and engaging in conversations with citizens, campaign workers, and members of the press.

Working independently and unconstrained by journalistic commission, Green was present not as a reporter but as a witness. Her intention was to capture this moment for future generations and to understand what it might mean for them Reflecting on her experience as a mother of children of mixed heritage, Green began to consider questions of representation, inheritance, and visibility

A pivotal moment came when Green attended Obama’s speech commemorating the forty-fifth anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” address, an event that situated the campaign within a much longer arc of civil rights history. Yet she also recognised that the full significance of Obama’s rise could only be understood retrospectively. The implications of this watershed moment would reveal themselves gradually, through sustained reflection on the material she had gathered and the historical distance that followed.

The resulting body of work, In Seven Days…, emerged years later as a meditation on cycles of change, collective action, and the idea that the seemingly impossible can be achieved. It captures a period defined by intense optimism and the urgent demand for racial equality at the highest level of political power. The series reflects on participation, hope, and the fragile momentum of historical transformation, while also asking what it means to witness history as it unfolds.

Described by The Metropolitan Museum of Art as “an artistic and historic masterpiece,” In Seven Days… continues to operate as a living inquiry into race, democracy, heritage, and representation. The work is held in major institutional collections including the National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), The Library of Congress (Washington D.C.), the International Slavery Museum (Liverpool), and the Walker Art Gallery (Liverpool), underscoring its enduring significance as both artwork and historical testimony.