Maddy’s Artist Statement:

In my drawing I chose to depict a scene of a cow standing in the sun in front of fields in black and white using charcoal and ink. To begin with, I wanted to do the drawing in black and white because the story of Theophilus Niger was unclear. I want to show this by not including the specific colors of each of the elements. For instance, we don't know what color cow he had, we don’t know the trees that surrounded his farm land, or the exact color of the sky, but further, we don’t know what he looked like, or the exact location he lived. I felt like doing the drawing in black and white made it more inclusive.

Additionally, the first record we have of a Theophilus is an ear marking that was used to distinguish between different owners' cattle. That is why I drew a cow with an ear tag. We also know that he most likely made a living from farming, especially after he had been freed. Which is why I drew the fields in the back and the most blistering sun in the world beating over the fields. However, I did not want to include any specific crops, because of the same reason as before - I wanted to be inclusive to whatever crops he grew. I want the drawing to represent how he started out in the U.S.A and also how his story, as we know it, ended.