The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker
Mar 2016 back issue
by Alice Smeets
The Ghetto Tarot is a photographic interpretation of the traditional tarot deck. The scenes are
inspired by the Rider Waite deck (originally designed in 1909 by artist Pamela Colman Smith)
and are replicated together with a group of Haitian artists called Atis Rezistans in the Haitian
slums using only material we were able to find or create locally.
We want to have people question their assumptions about what the ghetto really is and to
change the negative connotation that the word implies in our culture into a positive one.
The objective is to highlight the creativity and strength of the citizens of the Ghetto and I’m
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. The Ghetto Tarot reaches beyond cultural walls of
prejudice 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 has inspired
me. The artists made me realize that it lies only within us what judgment we assign 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 and
discover the power of our own thoughts. And isn’t the confrontation of our inner feelings and emotions what tarot is all
about?
