It is projected that within three decades, the United States will have a “majority-minority” population. We asked four artists to consider this demographic shift, and show us their visions of the year 2050. Here is Jaret Vadera, an interdisciplinary artist based in New York and interested in the hidden structures of power.

 

Unless we are mindful, I do not think 2050 will look very different from today. Ideologues on both sides of the majority-minority binary are hyping this projected shift as a way to manufacture consent. But, there is no imminent crisis. No magic doors. Just the same age-old games designed to divide and rule, designed to pit us against each other.

I hope in 2050 we will no longer need reductive demographic formulas to address social inequalities or encourage collective action. In the end, these categories are forms of systemic violence that oversimplify our subjective experiences by forcing us all to fit into an Asian, Hispanic, White, Black, or Other box.

What does 2050 look like to other artists? To view the other pieces from this series, click here:

Oyama Enrico Isamu Letter

An Xiao Mina

Jeff Ng