Them

"I am making some people," Cica Ghost told me a couple weeks back. "I don't know what they will be, but I want to make a scene with lots of people — to cover a sim with people." And, in her new immersive installation, Them, she has done just that: in a single posed scene, amid a parched and forlorn landscape with giant thorns emerging from the ground (maybe evocative of the Đavolja Varoš in southern Serbia), hundreds of humanoid figures are massed together, their statuesque shapes bent downward and trudging forward in the same direction, looking alienated, broken and perhaps searching.

These huddled masses might evoke for some viewers the Syrian refugee crisis or some similar catastrophe involving human suffering. "You can see them your way," Cica said as we explored her build together. "Everybody has their own version — they can remind people of many situations." But overhead, a curious object provides some context, or perhaps simply raises more questions. A large flying saucer, a UFO substantial enough to potentially hold all of the figures, hovers in the sky overhead, shining beams of light below onto the forwardmost of the figures (image above).

Not quite all the figures are in alignment of thought and action: three stand apart, perched on a little hillock (image above), and elsewhere one has started to break off from the group, seemingly to explore on his own. The images of this dark scene shown here use the parcel's default windlight setting, highlighting the area's deep rust and grey tones, and Cica recommends activating advanced lighting model and shadows. If you enjoy Them, please consider leaving a contribution at the landing point, or by visiting Cica's shop.