Now is the time between the Spring Equinox and Easter which, for me, usually means one thing: school holidays! Whilst I am still working for some of the two-week holiday, I did have a few days off, so I decided to use some of that time to get more witchy again. During this time, I have been researching my Hindu roots to prepare a talk for the Artemis Gathering (now sold out!), explore ideas for the upcoming Pagan Pride Anglia (more on that in another post) and getting back to looking at Tarot.
With thanks to Lucya Starza's blog, where she lists upcoming Pagan events around London (and surrounding areas), I found out about a small art exhibition organised by Alice Procter of the Euphonia Collective. Set up at the Crypt Gallery at St Pancras Parish Church (Euston Road- barely 10 minute walk from St Pancras International and across the road from Euston), the exhibition showcases a collection of artwork "inspired by and reinterpreting the traditional tarot deck", according to their Facebook description. Obviously, as a Tarot enthusiast working on my own deck, I couldn't not go and check it out.
The crypt is the perfect setting for a topic as mystical and old as the Tarot. As you want into the exhibit, you are surrounded by beautiful and interesting paintings by a range of artists showcasing their work. Out of respect to the artists, I did not take any photos. I did, however, take notes about the pieces that especially jumped out at me. This, unfortunately, isn't all of them but we all have different tastes and this is not a comment on the quality of their work. I was also selective as I only had a certain amount of space in my notebook, plus my blog post would end up insanely long. I will start with the Tarot interpretations, and then lead into the work inspired by the cards.
Following on from these were some large Tarot cards created by Annie Dalton, which I found truly fascinating. Similar to Irvings, Dalton replaced the people traditionally found in the court cards with animals. The accompanying notes showed how deeply she explored this notion, taking care to match the associations of the animals, the suits and the characters of the Page, Knight, Queen and King.
Tucked away in one of the Crypt Gallery's corners was a particularly striking piece. I came back to it a couple of times to just to take it all in: The Tower by George Procter. In this image, the usual castle-like tower is instead London's most famous clocktower, Big Ben. The building is in the throes of a storm, throwing people from the inside, all whilst being watched by a formidable greenish eye in the sky. It came across as stunningly political with an almost Orwellian feel- I don't know if this was one example from a full deck or a standalone piece. If part of a deck, I'd be interested in seeing the rest of the cards to see if they follow a similar theme.
Another fascinating deck I saw was examples from Alice Marie Edwards' Shakespeare Tarot, which is precisely what it says on the tin. The characters in the Major Arcana are represented by different Shakespearean characters: Lady MacBeth as the Chariot, Oberon as the Emperor, Titania as the Empress and, my favourite, Bottom as the Hanged Man. I did have to restrain myself from taking photos as the detail and accuracy of the artwork was absolutely stunning, plus my mum's a huge Shakespeare nerd and would have loved to see it. I did describe it to her in detail when I saw her later that day.
This wasn't the only deck that had a cultural reference- George Procter had a second addition to the exhibition in the form of Solo: A New Hope, a tarot deck based on Han Solo of Star Wars fame. Just because the Tarot is an ancient art, it doesn't mean we can't have fun with it. I'm guilty of owning a Charmed-themed Tarot deck.
For those who live in London and/or are fascinated by the history of our capital city, there's The London Tarot by Johnny Cue. These are black and white images depicting different moments in London's history and relating them to the symbolism and meaning of the different cards in the Tarot. The descriptions actually caused some synapses in my brain to fire and another design for my own deck popped in my head- if you were there on Friday and saw a woman in an Inkubus Sukkubus hoodie scribbling crude sketches in a tiny notebook, that was almost definitely me.
Moving onto the artworks inspired by the Tarot. I want to start with "Cum With The Goddess" by Priya Saujani. This was a movement piece about the treatment of women in Indian culture, performed by Kaajel Patel... sadly, the performance only took place on the exhibition's opening on Thursday 6th April, so I didn't get to see it. What was left was a small room, separated from the rest of the crypt by a "curtain" made of flowers. Inside the room was a discarded sari, candles, rose petals and a white sheet hung on the wall. The scent of flowers and incense hit you as you leaned in (you were allowed to enter the room, but only if you removed your shoes- my boots take ages to get on, so I decided to skip this part). Without the dancer, it was powerful and immersive- I can only imagine how effective it would be with her also performing. The white sheet was marred with red handprints, which were very jarring against the beauty of the flowers and the candles. There was very little to suggest which part of the Tarot inspired this deck, but my first instinct would be a flip-side to the Lovers.
I do hope that a video version of the piece makes its way online eventually, or there's a repeat performance.
Then there was "Real Tarot" by Kate Spence and Michael Lightbourne. The piece was a screen displaying filmed performance work inspired by different Tarot cards. The backbone of each piece was that the scene was halved and then one side mirrored, creating the illusion of people suspended in the air, having compressed bodies, missing faces, then moving in a way that was subtle, creepy and hypnotic. The entire concept was really fascinating and opened up the idea of Tarot cards in the digital age. We have had printed cards for so long, but can we be open to the idea of digital cards that come to life in front of us? How could this be used in the context of a tarot reading?
On a personal level for me, it made me think about the idea of translating Tarot cards, or even readings, into a movement piece. Quite often, I read cards by watching them intently and seeing if I can get a sense of movement from them- what's happening in the cards, what are they feeling, what will they do next? This might be a project for me to work on in the future.
"Cum With The Goddess" wasn't the only piece that explored feminism with the Tarot. Another work that embodied this was Hierophant 5.0, written and directed by Shannon Mulvey, filmed and edited by Benjamin Leggett. This piece was a celebration of women and power, relating to the Tarot, talking about the innate power of the feminine. Unfortunately, due to the placement of this piece being so close to another video installation- also with audio- I couldn't quite focus on the wording. Due to the size and shape of the Crypt Gallery, I can understand why this was probably unavoidable. A script alongside the piece would have been beneficial, especially for any people attending the exhibit who may be hard of hearing.
The final piece that I found to be particularly striking was Oda as St Oda by Edith Dormandy. The sculpture was strong and beautiful, and also simultaneously complex and simple. It's inspired me to learn a bit more about St Oda, that's for sure!
It's was an unmissable experience that I greatly encourage people to visit if they have time. It closes on April 10th, so get there quickly!
The exhibition was funded by Kickstarter- more information about that here.
Blessings,
Shanti
xx