Paint, pastel, pencil, tape on wall. Dimensions variable
“Laters Days” Embark Gallery, San Francisco, CA
The Hierarchy of Needs is a theory of human motivation that is visually expressed in a pyramid shape, forming a bottom-up hierarchical system in which each level must be fulfilled before ascended. Created by psychologist Abraham Maslow, the Hierarchy of Needs theorizes that people are motivated to achieve basic needs like food and shelter before being able to move up a pyramid level to more complex needs like love and self-esteem. From the bottom of the hierarchy upwards, the five levels of the hierarchy are: Physiological, Safety, Love and Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization at the top. Maslow theorized that if a person's needs are not met before attempting a higher need, the person does not function optimally.
Since 2015 I have been creating iterations of my own Hierarchy of Needs through the lens of daily narrative, academia, trauma, and humor and material explorations of text, scale, and color. I am interested in examining my attraction to this hierarchy as both a physical shape and a philosophy, that which is shrouded in self-improvement but whose rigid origins are rooted in mid-century Western patriarchal society.
I plan to continue to work with the Hierarchy of Needs to help other people (and myself) reflect on our individual and societal needs, goals and realities, as well as making room for alternative shapes and cultural systems/criticisms that challenge, subvert, and seek to dismantle Maslow’s theory.
