Karen Navarro

América Utópica is an ongoing, participatory art project composed of mixed-media works that visualize the racial, cultural, and ethnic diversity of the United States through crowdsourced skin tones and personal identifiers. As a collective portrait and public archive, it reflects on migration, identity, indigeneity, and belonging in contemporary America.

Launched in 2020, the project has developed through community engagement and open calls for participation across the country. Local and national participants are invited to submit a photograph of their skin tone along with their first name, creating a growing, decentralized archive of identity markers that are then translated into sculptural works, photographs, and installations.

Site-specific editions includes large-scale works such as Hechos del Mismo Barro (We Are Made from the Same Clay) in Houston, featuring hundreds of clay-colored photographic tiles arranged in order of submission, and Shine America 2043, a mixed-media artwork inspired by the U.S. Census projection that by 2043, the majority of the population will be non-white. These works serve as meditative, utopic visions of an inclusive America, grounded in both Indigenous knowledge and speculative futures.

Each edition of América Utópica is designed in collaboration with the community and shaped by the participants’ submissions. All contributions are voluntary, and the resulting works are accessible to the public through exhibitions and online platforms. Across all versions, the project continues to grow—amplifying underrepresented voices and celebrating the collective makeup of the Americas.

CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PROJECT.