With Joseph Biden’s win in the US presidential election secured, artists are now starting to look forward to what happens next.
Some are optimistic, especially about Kamala Harris’s historic win as not only the first woman, but also the first person of Asian descent and the first Black person to become vice president.
But there is also a healthy amount of skepticism in the air, especially in light of President Donald Trump’s contestation of the election results and his attempts to stall the transfer of power.
Deborah Kass, Artist
For those of us whose work engages with political realities and the unfinished work of imagining full equality, a more perfect union, and E Pluribus Unum, the work continues. For the first time in four years, democracy and everything we hold dear, including our lives, is [not] on the verge of total annihilation because of a dumb spoiled brat, the depraved failure named Donald Trump, a man who, in the most extreme way imaginable, embodies the corruption and pathology of privilege.
Take a step back from the edge. Breathe. Be as terrified as you should be and never forget how close we came. Complacency is not an option. The work goes on.
We asked a dozen artists about their feelings, and here’s what they had to tell us.