Zaria Dowell
2nd Place Winner of the "Drawing Self-Emancipation" Youth Art Competition 2026
Artist bio
Zaria Dowell is a young Barbadian creative with a passion for self-expression and Pan-Africanism. Drawing inspiration from her surroundings, she incorporates her love for nature into her pieces, transforming the world around her into art that reflects her imagination and perspective.
Her artistic style is not confined to a single medium. Zaria embraces a variety of materials, techniques, selecting whichever medium best suits the vision and purpose of each piece. Zaria is a graduate of Queen’s College.
Through her work, she explores the connection between imagination, nature, identity, and culture, continually seeking new ways to express herself.
Title of artwork: "Visionary"
Contemporary expressionist acrylic/ gauche canvas painting mixed with realism graphite/ charcoal drawing and textile yarn
Artist Statement
I chose Betty Hagar because as an, and I quote, “18 year old, 5 ft some inches” girl, who is from St. Lucy and looks for ways to feel free and peaceful, I felt as though they were describing me in the newspaper.
The piece is titled “Visionary”, as Betty has a vision, and I made it my mission to portray it. Within her eye you will find a colorful perspective of the future she envisioned for herself when she took the daring step to escape captivity. The bright colours encapsulate her hopefulness for a bright future. In stark contrast, her present self is detailed in a dull, black and white setting, illustrated with a furrowed eyebrow and tears, representing her bleak reality that she so desperately wants to emancipate herself from. The eyebrow is made from yarn, because I wanted something tangible, that reminds us all that Betty was human despite what her oppressors labeled her as.
Self-emancipating person: Betty Hagar
Advertisement from the newspaper "Barbados Mercury and Bridgetown Gazette" (June 6, 1807)
Transcription
ABSENTED from the Subscriber, a Negro Girl about 18 years of age, named Betty Hagar, about 5 feet some inches high, has good features, black skin, a bushy head of hair, which she wears plaited in the way that negroes now wear their hair; large eye bones, small eyes, speaks very well, is very fond of dancing; she has been seen in the parish of St Lucy, in the neighbourhood of Golding’s Green, and Colonel Cadogan’s Estate, where she passed for a free subject, under a fictitious name. She has parents and other family at the plantation of Samuel Drayton, Esq. called Edge-Hill, in the parish of St. Thomas, where it is likely she is harboured or in that neighbourhood. A Reward of Ten Pounds will be given for apprehending and delivering to the Subscriber, living very near Eagle Hall, or to Richard Smitten, Esq. at Buck’s Farm, St. Thomas’s parish. A further Reward of Ten Pounds will be given to any person that will give such proof of her being harboured by any White or free Coloured Person, as will convict them under the Detinue Act which will be enforced against persons so offending. St. Michael’s June 6-3a. ANN LEWIS.
The advertisement is in page 2 of the newspaper. To read the full issue, please click here.