Thoughts on The Ghetto Tarot?

earthair

Every Tarot deck is a collection of art. At best art provokes and causes discussion and disagreement, so in that sense she's produced a worthwhile deck. The title does what it says on the tin, and doesn't put me off. In a world where freedom of speech is being eroded every day, it's great to see artists still being bold.
It makes me sad that people are judging the artist as being insensitive or making a poor titling decision because of the colour of her skin, or her nationality, which is very ironic. The title of the deck is only the outer 'skin' of the product, and rejecting this beautifully thought-out project because of the outer skin would make a person rather shallow IMHO. :livelong:
 

earthair

I was missing the 6th Cup in the little girl's hand; I was wondering why there are 'Two' 5 of Cups cards ...

Just from a compositional POV I'd have had her hold the cup up a bit higher so it didn't get camouflaged against the same colour tyre.
 

AJ

at the end of the day it is just one more RWS clone using posed figures with colorful backdrops. Paid mimes doing what has already been done to death. Indeed, I see only one card that might reflect the depth of despair Haitians might historically feel.

Haiti's rich coffee plantation days depended on the import of nearly a million slaves, hardly high times for them. Torture of the slaves was high sport though, along with ripping out all the natural resources of the island

Then there was Papa Doc and Baby Doc more recently, the hammer and nail on the bottom of the pail.

I don't think more truthful imaging would help the mission, the subject is too huge to be offered any kind of recovery from a clone tarot deck. It is just one more sport to be taken at the expense of a nation.
 

seven stars

at the end of the day it is just one more RWS clone using posed figures with colorful backdrops. Paid mimes doing what has already been done to death.

Actually, I view the RW a little differently. I view it as the Rider Waite SYSTEM, not just the deck. The deck has PC's specific cartoon-drawn images, but the Rider Waite system has more to do with the symbolism in each of the cards and the definitions of each of the cards. It's a system we're familiar with & it makes it easier to read different decks if we know that the Hanged man, for example, has a specific stance and a specific meaning - even if he's a black guy dangling upside down on a ladder as in this deck.

I don't think these people were paid - I think they're receiving payment as a group, they're all part of an artist group in Haiti.

But back to the RWS - I know for me personally, unless it's an oracle deck that has no attached meanings to each of the cards, it's really a pain in the arse for me to learn someone's entire new system of reading - I want to read the cards & be done with it. The Iron Wing would drive me freakin nuts. But, show me the Cat's Eye tarot & I'm all like, wow, that cat really IS the Fool, isn't she? Cute as hell....but it's because it's the RWS & I know what the artist was getting at.
 

karen0205

It doesn't matter to me what color the woman/man is who created the deck. It doesn't matter
where they are from. My issue with the name of the deck is the connotation it
has. When you ask most people, the word ghetto represents a place
that is usually lower income, struggling families, less privileged lifestyle.
She is misguided thinking that calling the deck Ghetto will stir up
discussions about the people in Haiti with any outcome that will bring about change.
It's a tarot deck, not a public commentary on the condition of the people in Haiti.
If she really wants to bring attention to the communities in Haiti, there are better
ways to do it than offering the deck to a small community (the tarot community)
relative to the rest of the world. I think the conversations will be over the title and not
ways to help the people of Haiti.

Just my opinion.
 

Grizabella

I haven't totally read all these posts but the whole way through the half I did read, I kept having the recurring question enter my head--"How is this much different from called a deck "Deck of the Bastard?" I'm offended by that title and haven't even looked through the deck because I just don't care for the title.

I don't see anything wrong with naming the deck Ghetto Tarot. I get it---I don't see why the big to-do in criticizing this woman's work is about. And you could certainly say that I live in the "ghetto". I'd gladly buy this deck if it were published.
 

Zephyros

at the end of the day it is just one more RWS clone using posed figures with colorful backdrops. Paid mimes doing what has already been done to death. Indeed, I see only one card that might reflect the depth of despair Haitians might historically feel.

On that I agree with you, especially as that goes to critique of the work in question, whether the name and work reflect the deck's stated aim, of showing the poverty of these people. My answer would be no, as there isn't really enough substance in these RWS recreations to successfully convey anything except a vague recognition of the card in question. They're just people, and barring a few unique cards, they're mostly uninteresting.

And that truly is a shame, since both the name and aim strike a chord, but the development of the idea is certainly left wanting.

However, at times art is supposed to be offensive and thought-provoking, and should make you very uncomfortable. When Duchamps put a urinal into a museum and called it The Fountain, or when he drew a moustache on the Mona Lisa, his aim was the same. It was to challenge the viewer, to make them question their own sensibilities. If they were offended, they were dared to explore why.

Have Tarot decks become to bland that one with a real aim and message is seen as offending? Why is it that this deck, which seems frank and honest in its aims, gets this flack but the Cultural Revolution Tarot, that in my mind actually is offensive and seeks to whitewash history, isn't seen as offensive but better? In my opinion that one is the real offender. This one tries to offend in the right direction rather than the wrong one.
 

Disa

Being a "Bastard" child myself I was drawn to the deck BECAUSE of the title. Even though, the deck was made as a "bastardization" of combining different decks into one, right? It wasn't made specifically as a dig at children being born out of wedlock. I guess if you are a bastard yourself, you can find the humor in it? I certainly can.... my mother didn't get the humor, though haha... :) (I was otherwise known as a "love child" in the hippie era-diff words, same thing) Anyway, name aside the deck itself is fabulous.

As far as the "ghetto" title goes- if that's what the people themselves call where they live, I guess I can understand that. But as an outsider looking in, I would not be the one to name it as such.I guess the polarizing title is doing what the artist wanted, after all? Getting us talking and thinking about it.....I don't find this deck fabulous, however.
 

seven stars

The Bastard thing I mentioned in the first post. Bastardization of old decks, tongue in cheek reference to my boyfriend, yadda yadda....I get it that some people don't like the word. Maybe if there were a whole victimized social group of bastards out there who were oppressed & stereotyped & whatever, then I might have had other thoughts.

Recently, I watched the entire series of Game of Thrones. Not one series, I mean, the entire series from the beginning up to the first episode in series 5....I think I am now officially completely desensitized to the word bastard. Possibly even whore. Ok maybe not so much whore.

But yah I can see whereas some people would be so turned off by the name that they won't even look at the deck. In "my" case, that's really not that big of a deal, because I will guarantee you I did not put nearly the time & effort & resources into creating my deck as Smeets did hers, & that's why I brought this subject up in the first place - because I thought it was really sad that (for me at least), just that title makes me seriously not want to own that deck because it makes me feel bad or ugly somehow, whereas if it just had a different name, I would view it in an entirely different light.

Where I am from, the ghetto brings to mind images of a trashed out poverty stricken community of minorities, riddled with crime & drugs & violence & gangs. The poor in Haiti....it's just not the same picture. The ghetto here is not a place of "pride" it's a place of fear.

Notice, btw, that my next deck was not the Deck of the Bitch....
 

UrbanBramble

Motion to segue into a discussion about whether or not its offensive to call Jon Snow "Lord Snow" when we all know what it means to have a common last name... [emoji6]

In all seriousness though, the blog that squee posted was super helpful for me and I think the artist's intentions (and funds) are in the right place. Its all about whose voices are being heard and who is profiting.