​”Das Ich Und Das Es” (The Ego and the Id)

​This sculpture was inspired by Freud’s paper by the same name that was published in 1923. According to Freud, the ego and the id are in constant conflict and tension and this results in all sorts of psychological conditions. These tensions are 1) between the ego and the id, 2) between the ego and the super-ego, and 3) between the love-instinct and the death-instinct. The ego is essentially our conscious self, while the id is the subconscious who is instinctual and potentially reckless; and is with us from birth. The ego is caught between the super-ego and the id, each vying for control. The super-ego and the id, often working together, can cause all sorts of havoc when the love and death instincts become separated as the super-ego turns on the ego, against whom it rages with the utmost cruelty. Auto-biographical, like much of Boky’s work it tells stories; stories of love and of heartbreak; of life, but also of emancipation and joy.

The duality of the ego and the id, illustrated through the split nature of the face in Hackel-Ward’s sculpture, conjures a feeling of universality. Interpreted through the scope of Humanity, it reminds us that humans are, in and of ourselves, conflict made flesh. We are light and darkness, struggle and flourish, cruelty and kindness, and there is no certain beginning or end to these contentions.