Judgement / Aeon / XX (for Pamela Colman Smith)
14.25” x 8.25”, 2025
I grew up thinking of tarot cards with about as much reverence as I have for Quija boards, but they have a long and fascinating past that reaches all the way back to the 15th century, spanning the history of medieval and esoteric art. The interpretations of each card change somewhat over the ages from deck to deck, from reader to reader, but the Judgement or Aeon card has stayed fairly consistent in its depiction of rebirth, resurrection, self realization, transformation.
The cards most commonly used today are the “Rider–Waite deck”, named after the men who commissioned and printed the cards. The deck has stayed relevant, though, because of its vibrant, fanciful illustrations by a woman of Jamaican descent named Pamela Colman Smith whose name has conveniently been left out of the story. Smith lived a singular life, mostly in London and Manchester, with stints in Brooklyn and Kingston, Jamaica. She was well known in the cultural circles of the time, acquainted with famous figures like Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keefe, Aleister Crowley, Bram Stoker (for whom she illustrated several projects, including the first edition of The Lair of the White Worm), and many more.
I wanted to help resurrect Smith and her work a bit in this piece, and also reference other ideas and traditions from the golden age of the occult and spiritualism in which she lived. Though she’s not a household name, Smith’s work lives on in the collections of the Whitney and Yale University, not to mention the bedrooms of every goth teenager on Earth..
14.25” x 8.25”, 2025
I grew up thinking of tarot cards with about as much reverence as I have for Quija boards, but they have a long and fascinating past that reaches all the way back to the 15th century, spanning the history of medieval and esoteric art. The interpretations of each card change somewhat over the ages from deck to deck, from reader to reader, but the Judgement or Aeon card has stayed fairly consistent in its depiction of rebirth, resurrection, self realization, transformation.
The cards most commonly used today are the “Rider–Waite deck”, named after the men who commissioned and printed the cards. The deck has stayed relevant, though, because of its vibrant, fanciful illustrations by a woman of Jamaican descent named Pamela Colman Smith whose name has conveniently been left out of the story. Smith lived a singular life, mostly in London and Manchester, with stints in Brooklyn and Kingston, Jamaica. She was well known in the cultural circles of the time, acquainted with famous figures like Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keefe, Aleister Crowley, Bram Stoker (for whom she illustrated several projects, including the first edition of The Lair of the White Worm), and many more.
I wanted to help resurrect Smith and her work a bit in this piece, and also reference other ideas and traditions from the golden age of the occult and spiritualism in which she lived. Though she’s not a household name, Smith’s work lives on in the collections of the Whitney and Yale University, not to mention the bedrooms of every goth teenager on Earth..