The Ghetto Tarot is waiting to be shipped to you:

You can continue to order the Ghetto Tarot deck and perks through this campaign site. We send out the orders once a week.
 

While the cards were designed many years ago with the situations of the time when the world was very different, they resonate today with timeless symbols that can be applied to our busy modern world. And not just our modern, western world, but also to any other continent, country or culture, including the Haitian Ghetto. So here comes a temporary, provocative and vivid tarot deck!

On several cards we used the artists art, that includes symbolism from the Voodoo religion to embody the important meaning of the cards original symbols.

The photographer

My name is Alice Smeets, I am a Belgian photographer, filmmaker, artist and teacher. My documentary photographs from Haiti are fairly well known and have won me several awards including the Unicef Photo of the Year Award 2008.

For a long time, I have wanted to interpret the Tarot Deck with my photos, but taking ordinary pictures of the scenes seemed too simple. My aim was to create a very personal deck without loosing the different spirits of the cards. Then the idea entered my mind to combine three of my passions: the spiritual world, the Haitian culture and people as well as the philosophical reflections about the dualities in our world; in this case rich and poor.

Since 2007 I have been a regular visitor to Haiti and have lived in the country as well for 2 years. Its complexity and spirituality have played a big role in my life. The observations of the Haitian society have brought answers to many questions I have had.

So taking the tarot pictures in the ghetto of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince was the obvious choice to create a very personal deck: moving away from the clichéd images of poverty, illustrating the spirits and meanings of the cards with a touch of humor in the middle of the slum and showing colored people for the first time on the traditional, old European cards to break stereotypes.

Collaborating artists: The Haitian Ghetto Tarot actors

ATIS REZISTANS

All the artists of the group ATIS REZISTANS grew up in downtown Port-au-Prince, in an atmosphere of junkyard make-do, survivalist recycling and artistic endeavour. Their powerful sculptural collages of engine manifolds, TV sets, wheel hubcaps and discarded lumber have transformed the detritus of a failing economy into bold, radical and warped sculptures.

Having known the group of artists “Atiz Rezistans” for a very long time, they immediately jumped on board to create the Ghetto Tarot deck together. Being very spiritual themselves and working a lot with voodoo symbolism, they immediately understood the spirits of the cards.

Atis Rezistans were very helpful to find the materials needed and often created them on the spot, like the lantern for the Hermit that is created out of a old metal can or the black cat for the Queen of Wands and the animals on the Moon that are made out of used car tires.

Why call it Ghetto Tarot?

According to the common definition, the ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure. The term was originally used in Venice to describe the part of the city to which Jews were restricted and segregated.

Today, a commonly used definition of a ghetto (especially in the United States) is communities distinguished by a homogeneous race or ethnicity. Additionally, a key feature that continues to symbolize the demographics of American ghettos is the prevalence of poverty. Poverty constitutes the separation of ghettos from other, suburbanized or private neighborhoods. The Haitian people have long ago adopted the word Ghetto into their own language Creole and use it to name the poorest neighborhoods of their cities.

Our idea behind choosing the term "Ghetto" as a name for the deck, is to provoke a discussion around the topic, to have people question their own assumptions about what the ghetto really is and to change the often negative connotation that the word implies in our culture into a positive one. The name of the Ghetto Tarot is inspired by the "Ghetto Biennale", which is an invitation by Atis Rezistans to visiting Western and non-Western artists to come to Haiti and create art in collaboration with them to produce a show at the end. Atis Rezistans use trash to create art with their own visions that are a reflection of the beauty they see hidden within the waste.

Our intention is not a glorification of the life in the Ghetto, but to feature the Haitian Ghetto and poverty in general in another light. I have observed over and over again that those, who the world calls "the poor", are full of strength, full of life, joy and creativity. I believe we need more people in this world to start looking at them that way and stop seeing them as victims of a deserted and hopeless situation. A desirable consequence of this imagined situation is a reintegration of the lost self-trust into their own original ideas.

Since generations Haitians have witnessed people telling them that they are poor and that they need western "solutions" to their problems and many have associated themselves with this idea a long time ago.

Our objective is to highlight the creativity and strength of the citizens of the Ghetto and we are certain that inside of them lays a treasure of innovative ideas to dissolve the circle of dependence and victimization, that will break through if the world starts looking at their skills and capacities instead of their deficiencies. That plays an important part of the objective behind the photographies of the "Ghetto Tarot": reaching beyond cultural walls of prejudice and ignorance to achieve a much needed transformation of the collective conscience perception of the Ghetto.

Atis rezistans are claiming the word “Ghetto”, free themselves of its depreciating undertone and turn it into something beautiful. Their act of appropriating a word loaded with unfavorable sentiments by altering its meaning is an act of inspiration. 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 we can choose if we look at destruction and see despair or if we choose to see the start of something new, we can change the meaning of every word, action and emotion. That is something I learned from the Haitian artists and we are sharing it together with the world through the Ghetto Tarot.

And isn’t the confrontation of our inner feelings and emotions what tarot is all about?

The Project

Funding for this project would provide a means to print the full 78 card Ghetto Tarot in a first edition of 400 decks, work with a graphic designer to design the back as well as the names and short descriptions of the cards, all at an affordable cost without impacting the quality of production.

Costs of production:

Printing of 400 high quality Tarot decks = 5.200

Working with a graphic artist = 800 Euro

Pay back the loan that was used to create the photographs = 1.000 Euro (which was used to pay the artists and materials for the pictures)

The artists will receive 20% of the profit. This amount was agreed upon, taking into account the amount of work each party has put into the Ghetto Tarot.

UPDATE: Recently I came across some rumors saying that this project is exploitative of the Haitians. The artists are being paid as partners according to the work everyone has put into the project. This is not a charity project, neither is it an act of exploitation. I would pay my European coworkers the same amount, I am paying the Haitians. I do not believe pity is helping anyone, I believe in partnership. If you are interested in finding out why, check out the documentary I directed two years ago: www.aidependence.com

So, What’s in it for you? That’s a good question. A lot actually.

REWARDS!

1.  The Ghetto Tarot Deck: 

This is probably why you’re here. If you pre-order the deck through Indiegogo, you’re not only getting one of the First Edition, but you’ll get 10 Euro off the original price! Yeah, it’s just that great. Not into tarot at all but you still managed to read this far? Cool, that’s totally fine - check out the awesome photography print and workshop options in the next section!

2.  The Limited Edition Fine Art Photographic Prints and Posters:
Get your own favorite card as a photographic fine art, signed print in two different sizes. And the first 30 people (for each size) will save a lot!!
You want to have all photos? Get the rare, limited edition photobook signed by the artist that has them all (it only exists 30 times).
It’s too much for you? Get a poster. Its not signed, its not part of a limited edition, but it's still awesome!

3.  Photography workshops
Get your own one-on-one photography workshop or get a group together to invite me to your place to give a photography workshop. I have given plenty of workshops before and my students have seen a rapid improvement in the way they are taking pictures.

4.  More
But that's not all. There are more surprises! Check them out!

Please help us to make this dream come true! You can also help us by sharing this campaign with your friends, on your social media platform or publishing it on your blog.

Watch all 78 pictures in the Gallery!