Us and Them
In the recent years the world has become more polarized and our human tendency to divide everyone into “us” and “them” has become more pronounced. My current project, titled Us and Them shows the cross section of a house depicted twice. In one the rooms with ‘good’ scenes—an elderly couple dancing, a family at dinner, a girl reading—are illuminated, while in the other only the ‘bad’ scenes, such as people fighting and a man watching pornography, are lit up.
When we think about a group of people that we consider “us” we tend to think of the good things in our “house”, while when we think about “them” we often focus only on problems. For example, I really enjoy travelling to Mexico and in particular to Mexico City because of the vibrant artistic life, excellent museums and amazing food, yet when I tell people in the US that I am going to Mexico I get concerned questions about whether it is dangerous because they are only familiar with negative information about Mexico; when I tell these same people about my travels in the US nobody raises an eyebrow even though some of the places I visit have higher crime statistics than Mexico City.
Us and Them is a work in progress. I began by creating the 3-D model of the house and then lighting it in two different ways to create “us” and “them” sides. I am using the 3-D model as a rough draft for my finished drawings, which I am currently creating one room at a time.
For more information about this ongoing series go to the following website:
3D Model
