Hey guys, I've been working on something for the past months and now that it's complete, I want to share it!
Tarot True Crime Γ© um projeto artΓstico, comunitΓ‘rio, experimental e sem fins lucrativos que utiliza a estrutura simbΓ³lica do tarot para org
I was planning to create tarot cards (Major Arcana) based on the symbolism and personality of our favorite True Crime perpetrators. I started elaborating and everything, but it became something bigger and I thought I should write it down.
I'm currently in college (Multimedia Production) and my final project will be a film analysis of Dahmer (Netflix), discussing the aestheticization of serial killers. Not as a complaint, of course. I loved Jeff's series, I wanted one about Ted Bundy.
Well, I experience a lot of prejudice in college; my tastes and projects are always put down. But I keep trying to incorporate True Crime into my entire academic journey. My projects are always connected to True Crime. However, it still bothers me to be so limited. So I decided to turn this idea into an independent essay and project.
So what is this about?
It's a free, community-based, non-profit project. I had help from Generative AI (before you ask) and no, I don't see any problem with that.
This isn't about the "art" itself, but about the symbolism and the research involved. To write this article, I read Murley, Waite, and other authors, in addition to spending weeks awake writing and rewriting topics and prompts.
If you've made it this far it's because you love our true crime fan community, or you love Tarot, and you liked the idea.
I registered my work with the Brazilian National Library and other repositories for traceability and formality purposes. Now let's get to the juicy details:
I made a whole deck. It has 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana, 16 Minor Court Arcana, and 40 numbered Minor Arcana.
The aesthetics of the cards, the style, the poses, everything is heavily based on the Waite tarot, but placing true crime cases at the center.
The objective is to analyze the personality, criminal cases, circumstances, and everything involving the central figures (PERPS) and the supporting figures.
The main article (the standalone essay) includes details of each Major Arcana and Minor Court Arcana, detailing how each perpetrator fits the archetype of the Major Arcana, and how each case fits the Minor Arcana.
In this post, I'm publishing lower quality web versions of 10 of the Major Arcana. All 78 cards are complete, curated, edited, and processed, in very high resolution. They still contain reverse variations.
All disclaimers, image and copyright questions, licenses, terms of use, etc., are written and registered. I will bring more information soon.
My goal was to bring it and distribute it to the TCC community.
Also, the files are still only written in Brazilian Portuguese, my native language, because I definitely wouldn't be able to write so much in English, and this manual translation work is extremely exhausting. But, with faith and strength, I'll do it at some point.
The article also focuses on the AI-assisted generation and the editing and curation process.
I do NOT expect anyone here to suddenly like, accept, endorse, or enjoy AI. But this whole process was far from "easy" or "quick", and the use of AI in an assistive capacity has not replaced the work and research, so I ask that pejorative comments about AI be avoided.
