“It Portends”: 26 Artworks By Dan Barry

“American democracy is facing an existential threat, and the stakes could not be higher. In November, we will be having the most important election in American history. There is a decision that will be made: Are we going to continue our democracy any longer, or will we welcome authoritarian rule? Without hyperbole, the latter will ensure that our individual freedoms will be ceded.

We are at the precipice of a truly remarkable moment. Our experiment of democracy is about to pass the 250-year mark. Americans are still taking part in the democratic experiment Thomas Jefferson launched with the Declaration of Independence. The magnitude of the danger and threat we, as a polarized nation, are facing cannot and should not be underestimated. Decency, integrity, honor, honesty, empathy, and compassion are what we desperately need right now.

The aspiration of America still lives in people’s hearts, including mine: a nation continuing to strive for peaceful, multiracial, multicultural, and multireligious coexistence. We cannot take the blessings of our democracy for granted.”

— Dan Barry, 2024