We the People 2025

Pencil on Paper

9 x 12 inches (22.9cm x 30.5 cm)

Multiple white papers with minimalist line drawings of people's faces, scattered on a surface.
Hand-drawn sketches of animals on white paper sheets, including a horse and a rabbit, viewed from an angle.
Line drawing of a woman's face with shoulder-length hair, looking to the left.
Line art drawing of an older person with wrinkles, short hair, and wearing a collared shirt or jacket.
Line art drawing of a woman's face with shadowed features and shoulder.
Line art drawing of a woman with glasses, earrings, and short hair
Line drawing of a woman with short hair, wearing a collared shirt, with her face and upper shoulders visible.
Line drawing of a person's face and upper shoulders, with detailed facial features and hair, on a white background.
Line drawing of a person with glasses, short hair, and wearing a jacket.
Line art portrait of a man with short hair, wearing a collared shirt, drawn with continuous black lines on a white background.
Line drawing of a woman's face and upper body, created with continuous black lines on white paper.
Line drawing of a man's face with detailed features and a collared shirt.
Line drawing of a woman with an open mouth, showing teeth, and long hair, created with continuous single lines.
Line drawing of a woman's face with short hair, smiling and looking sideways.
Line drawing of a person's face and upper shoulders, created with continuous line art style.
Line drawing of a person's face created with continuous black lines on a white background.
Line drawing of a person's face with detailed features and minimal shading.
Line drawing of a woman with long hair and an expressive face, showing her mouth slightly open and eyebrows raised.
Line drawing of a woman's face and shoulders with detailed hair, eyes, nose, and lips.
Minimalist line drawing of a young man's face and upper shoulders on white background.
Line drawing of a woman with shoulder-length hair and a serious expression, wearing a crew-neck shirt.
A line drawing of a woman's face, featuring detailed eyes, nose, lips, and hair, with an earring visible on her left ear.
Line drawing of a woman with short hair, smiling, wearing a shirt, created with continuous black lines.
Line drawing of an older man with glasses, a mustache, and a beard, wearing a collared shirt.
Line drawing of a person with wavy hair, wearing a collared shirt and tie, smiling gently.
Line drawing of a person's face and upper shoulders, with distinctive facial features and short hair.
Line drawing of a woman with long hair, in a minimalistic, abstract style.
Line drawing of a woman with curly hair, wearing glasses, and a striped shirt.
Line drawing of a woman's face with earrings, smiling, with curly hair and wearing a round-neck top.
Line art drawing of a person smiling, with detailed facial features and a suit.
Line drawing of a woman with long hair, featuring abstract facial features.
Line drawing of a woman's face with shoulder-length hair, detailed eyes, and a slight smile.
Line drawing of a young man's portrait, showing facial features and shoulders, with minimal detail.
Line drawing of a woman with wavy hair, looking slightly to the side, with a neutral expression.
Line drawing of a smiling woman with wavy hair, earrings, and open shoulders.
Minimalist line drawing of a woman wearing a headscarf, with detailed facial features, on textured paper.
Line drawing of a person with a smiling face, short hair, and shirt with a rounded collar.
Minimalist line drawing of a woman's face, with her hand touching her chin, created with continuous black lines.
Line drawing of a man's face and upper body, with detailed features including hair, eyes, nose, and mouth, on a light background.
Minimalist line drawing of a man with short hair, facial hair, and wearing a jacket.
Line drawing of a woman with shoulder-length hair, wearing earrings, and a sweater, with a neutral facial expression.

We the People shifts van Alphen’s investigation from the individual figure toward the collective body.

The project takes the form of an evolving immersive installation composed of simple, anonymous line portraits. The drawings are designed to extend across the walls and ceiling of an entire room, surrounding the viewer with human faces without names, biographies, nationalities, or distinguishing markers.

Anonymity is central to the work.

The absence of individual identifiers removes many of the categories through which people are ordinarily separated from one another. Within the installation, no figure is given greater historical importance, social status, nationality, or narrative authority. Each face occupies the same visual language and contributes to a larger field of human presence.

The installation also remains intentionally open-ended. New portraits can become part of the evolving work, allowing the boundaries of the collective to continue expanding. What begins as a collection of individual marks becomes an environment, a space in which the distinction between singular and collective identity becomes increasingly difficult to maintain.

This shift from portrait to environment is important to Nina’s broader practice. Her earlier work often considers how an individual is shaped by culture, history, gender, memory, and social expectation. We the People asks what happens when those individual identities are temporarily stripped away and placed within a larger human field.

The work does not attempt to define a single version of humanity. Instead, it creates a physical encounter with plurality.

The viewer enters the work rather than simply looking at it.

Surrounded by faces that are at once individual and anonymous, the installation proposes a simple but consequential question: what remains when we look at one another before deciding who we are?