Introduction

What are the different roles the ego can play in one’s life? This capstone project addressed this question by creating a theory of ego development, featuring five stages each defined and presented with a corresponding research summary, artwork, and poem.

Literature Review

Each stage was paired with one or multiple research articles across several disciplines, including psychology, literature, religion, philosophy, and neuroscience. In addition to this, various artistic influences were examined.

The main artistic influence was e.e. cummings’ poem “The Grasshopper” because of both its visual format and poetic devices. The shape of the poem corresponds to the final stage of the project, dissolution, and conveys a visually entropic shape that was adopted for both the written and visual works. This was set as an end-image for the project, which helped to fill in what must happen in the previous stages to get to that point.

This project relied heavily on the work of scholars, using six main sources to characterize the stages of development. The first stage relied on an evaluation of Sommerer & Mignonneau’s paper application of Freud’s theory of development to concepts in neuroscience to form the phase Uncertainty. For the second stage, looked at Tomkins’ “The Myth of Narcissus…Subjectivity in Psychology” and Tyminski’s “Misreading Narcissus” which each provide an analysis on Ovid’s myth Narcissus, used to characterize the stage Shallowness. The third stage, Stability, was based on an analysis of Moore & Moore’s examination of a psychological theory of strongly versus weakly formed egos. The fourth stage, Rawness, was inspired by Šumiga’s analysis of theories of Buddhist philosophy. Finally, the fifth stage, Dissolution, is described through Millière’s studies of experiences of ego death through the use of psychedelic drugs. 

Methods

Research methods for this project included the synthesis of academic papers across many disciplines, analyzed within the context of this theory of ego development. The five artworks are mixed media and artistic methods included stamp carving and printing, photography, collage, painting, and flower pressing. Plaster was also used to create frames around the main subjects, and embedded relevant objects into each. 

Audience & Impact

This project aims to appeal to a wide range of audiences, especially applicable to adults who have a general interest in poetry and abstract art because they are likely open-minded to unconventional mixed media work. Additionally, it aims to appeal to underrepresented groups in philosophy to provide a space for individuals to explore potential interest in the field. Creating this project forced the artist to evaluate the role of ego in their own life, was identified as changing over time. There were also challenges as an artist to make sacrifices in work and focus on iteration.

References 

Millière, R. (2017). Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, neurophysiology and philosophical significance of drug-induced ego dissolution. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00245 

Moore, N., & Moore, N. (1975). The transcendent function and the forming ego. Journal of

Analytical Psychology, 20(2), 164–182. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-5922.1975.00164.x

Sommerer, C., & Mignonneau, L. (2018). From the ego to the alter ego – interacting with the self

image through Neuro Mirror. Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research, 16(1), 85–97. https://doi.org/10.1386/tear.16.1.85_1

Šumiga, D. (2020). Fromm’s understanding of the Buddhist philosophical theory and

psychoanalysis: From the phenomenal ego to the authentic being. International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 29(1), 50–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/0803706X.2018.1521006

Tomkins, L. (2011). The Myth of Narcissus: Ovid and the Problem of Subjectivity in

Psychology. Greece & Rome, 58(2), 224–239. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017383511000131

Tyminski, R. (2016). Misreading Narcissus. International Journal of Jungian Studies, 8(3),

159–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/19409052.2016.1201776

Zambrotta, L. (2017, September 3). E. E. Cummings. words and music and stories. https://wordsmusicandstories.wordpress.com/2017/09/03/e-e-cummings/ 

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my peers in Arts Scholars for all of their suggestions during critiques this semester, and my faculty advisor Heather for her extensive feedback and suggestions. Additionally, I would like to thank my best friend Ellie for agreeing to be the subject of my third work, and my parents for letting me take over our kitchen table while creating my artworks over break.