Theory of Wants

“Once upon a time a monk and a philosopher travelled through Mongolia in search of something…” Here’s the beginning of the trip documented in this book, which gathers together a selection of images shot by New York based photographer and writer Ohad Maiman in the past five years. Over seventy pictures, belonging to three different projects – Theory of Wants (2007), Wonder (2005) and Venture (2006) – are now collected in a trilogy, which intends to examine the unresolved issue of whether there exists a common sentiment among mankind with regard to its deepest needs. Moving from the assumption that “People in different places worry about different things, and yet the common denominators are greater than the differences,” Maiman presents a gallery of portraits he hunted all over the world. From the gaze of a smoker sitting at a Western café to the eyes of a peasant met in the remotest village in Asia, Theory of Wants seems indeed to find some sort of mysterious correspondence governing people’s behaviours and feelings. Following a career in the army as a member of the Israel Defense Forces, photographer and writer Ohad Maiman travelled extensively in the Far East and in South America, after which he settled down in New York City. In 2003 he received his degree in Philosophy and Visual Arts from Columbia University.