Alice Smeets, Haiti Tarot.
Alice Smeets’s series of photographs recreating Tarot cards is perhaps one of the best series of photographic works I have ever seen.
With the help of the Haitian Artist Corps, Atis Rezistans, Alice recreated the entire Rider Waite Tarot Deck, an early 20th century version of the mysterious cards that have long been used to tell ones fortunes. The subject in each of her photographs are Haitian artists and their artwork is used as decoration or backdrops, resulting in a very deeply personal portrait while still portraying the original tarot cards.
Alice entitled this series of photographs “Ghetto Tarot” and explains that the term “Ghetto” was embraced by the Atis Rezistans:
“Ghetto [is used to] free themselves of its depreciating undertone and turn it into something beautiful. This undertaking of the Haitians made me realize that it lies only within us to assign value or judgment towards a tangible or intangible thing, which creates a positive or negative emotion. If we realize that its a choice whether we look at destruction and see despair or to regard it as the start of something new, we can change the meaning of every word, action and sentiment.”
Continue below to see even more from this absolutely incredible series:
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