With help from Birmingham City University’s Students’ Union I was able to apply for funding from Birmingham City Council. By doing so I was then able to put together a body of work for exhibition to the public.

The idea behind the project was to look into the meanings behind the images that make up the Major Arcana of Tarot Cards. Many variations of the Tarot deck have been created and I was curious to find out where the ideas stemmed from. Through research I was able to break down the various meanings leaving me a platform to work from.

I developed my own themes based around things like geometric shapes so that I could encode my images with meaning. The images link to each other and can be read to some extent almost as a progressive story, or commentary. Various signifiers are used throughout the images such as cubes, triangles and spheres to help communicate my ideas. Cubes for example are a representation of the material world and triangles show transition. In an image such as The Hanged Man we see two men firmly seated on a large cube, whilst above their heads another cube breaks apart around them. This image depicts a sense of rebellion for mankind, when changes take place in the material world we are so accustomed to, and we begin to see it from a new light. The Lovers image is an interpretation of the fall of man from Eden. The man represents mankind in his fall after taking the fruit of Knowledge, whilst being denied eternal life. The 6 engraved into his chest communicates his punishment, and how that now, once cast out he will feel pain and suffering.