For "Us and Them", I created a 3-D model of the house and lit it in two contrasting ways to define the ‘us’ and ‘them’ sides. This digital model served as the foundation for the final drawings, which I developed room by room.
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 galleries 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.
For "Us and Them", I created a 3-D model of the house and lit it in two contrasting ways to define the ‘us’ and ‘them’ sides. This digital model served as the foundation for the final drawings, which I developed room by room.
One of the early sketches that I did as I was visualizing the overall concept of the piece.
After sketching out the basic concept, I started visualizing and creating parts that make up the whole.
This is a finished 3D model of Room 3. I made each part individually and then arranged everything together and added lights.
I use a 3D model as a rough draft for a drawing. Drawing is a final product. Drawing process is long and labor intensive. While I work digitally, each line is drawn individually. This is a quick recap of the process.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is a pair of large, juxtaposed house images from "Us and Them", displayed side by side. The project is flexible in its presentation: the house images appear as wall hangings or can be projected onto surfaces. Individual drawings of the illuminated rooms are also printed, framed, and exhibited throughout the gallery. There are 14 framed digital drawings in total, ranging in size from 26"×20" to 26"×52".
This is also a participatory artwork. Viewers are invited to reflect on a community they belong to—whether family, workplace, city, state, country, or any other group they identify with. They then write down one thing that makes them proud of their community and one thing they see as a problem. This participatory element can be experienced digitally through projections or physically with materials such as cork boards and handwritten notes.
My goal with Us and Them is to encourage viewers to become more aware of the ways we divide the world, to notice the positive aspects in others’ “houses,” and to acknowledge the challenges within our own.
Anna Zusman is a visual artist whose drawings employ visual metaphors and surreal elements to comment on the human condition and society. She currently lives in Magnolia, AR, and teaches drawing and illustration at Southern Arkansas University. She has exhibited widely in the US and her work has been featured in a variety of national and international publications.