Thoughts on The Ghetto Tarot?

excellent take on it Chrystella

I am all for provocative art that challenges us Clos but if you want to sell a tarot deck, why would you make it so people avoid it due to it's controversial title? especially one for a charity cause or to bring awareness. This deck has such mixed confused messages. The artists get 20% from this to help them but also is challenging our views on the ghetto or giving charity to people in poverty or difficult living conditions. There is such an awkardness here between the idea of a tarot deck, helping the local people, the awareness message about giving to people / international charity, depicting their lives and the controversial name for it. Too many mixed messages about what is the actual intention of it? is it to challenge us? help the people? make a beautiful tarot deck?

The funding for this has reached what it needs and it still open but I wouldn't buy the deck with this title still, I am uncomfortable with that provocative theme and title. I would have if it was just depicting the people in the cards and helping their local art collective and had a title which reflected that.

closrapexa said:

Ironically there actually is a "real" Ghetto Tarot, or rather "Holocaust concentration camp Tarot." It is the Kobe Tarot, made by a political prisoner and survivor of Allach (sadly it is not for sale). The two decks are not the same, but serve a similar purpose, to show people in difficult situations they can't get out of. One comes from an insider and is perhaps more heartfelt while the purpose of the other is perhaps to shock and draw attention to something in a deliberate fashion.

Can anyone give me an example of provocative art that they "approve" of? Does that not in itself devalue the provocative aspect, effectively castrating it? Can you give me an example of disturbing art that nobody would consider tasteless?

Remember that the artist is not subject to the same moral codes that the producer of a product is. If anyone is offended by art, then the artist has created something worthwhile. The most terrible thing an artist can do is provoke apathy.

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This is all true. (And I WANT that Kobe tarot - I have wanted it for years - I even emailed a site where it WAS apparently available - no dice )

gregory said:

This is all true. (And I WANT that Kobe tarot - I have wanted it for years - I even emailed a site where it WAS apparently available - no dice )

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Me, too, I would give anything for it. On the other hand, there is no denying it is a special thing. The last thing I would want is for it to be demeaned by mass market editions, threads on AT discussing its cardstock, etc.

But I still want it.

About the Ghetto, though, I'm confused. People seem to appreciate the deck (which I actually think is pretty meh) but literally judge a book by its cover, or a deck by its name. Since the proceeds do go, mostly, to people in need, why not get it despite the name? It isn't as if it is called the Mein Kampf Tarot. Ghetto isn't as bad as that, is it?

closrapexa said:

About the Ghetto, though, I'm confused. People seem to appreciate the deck (which I actually think is pretty meh) but literally judge a book by its cover, or a deck by its name. Since the proceeds do go, mostly, to people in need, why not get it despite the name? It isn't as if it is called the Mein Kampf Tarot. Ghetto isn't as bad as that, is it?

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I agree with this. But then, I am from the Netherlands and propably have the same mother language as Alice Smeets so I guess don't get why the name is so horribly wrong.
I don't find the artwork for the deck that special and not very creative. I had a look at Smeets' other photos and I find that work much better, but realistic and haunting and not suitable for an upbeat deck, which was her aim.

The art of The Ghetto Tarot is not provocative. It's mundane and rather stereotypical, imo. It's exactly what someone would expect to see out of a Haitian-themed tarot - the poor black people, making the best of it, being creative, resilient, and smiling along in the ghetto.

Not all artists want to make a statement. Plenty of them just want to sell their work and move on to the next project.

WolfSpirit said:

I agree with this. But then, I am from the Netherlands and propably have the same mother language as Alice Smeets so I guess don't get why the name is so horribly wrong.
I don't find the artwork for the deck that special and not very creative. I had a look at Smeets' other photos and I find that work much better, but realistic and haunting and not suitable for an upbeat deck, which was her aim.

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Looks like Alice Smeets is from Belgium. Maybe Americans have a different perspective on this matter. For me, it's even worse that the photographer/author of the Ghetto Tarot is white. Sorry you can't appropriate ghetto. White people can't appropriate the N word either.

goldenVI said:

Looks like Alice Smeets is from Belgium. Maybe Americans have a different perspective on this matter. For me, it's even worse that the photographer/author of the Ghetto Tarot is white. Sorry you can't appropriate ghetto. White people can't appropriate the N word either.

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And who is it that owns the word? Jews? Inner-city residents? Maybe the Italians, since they're the ones who invented them? Germans? Who is appropriating what, and from whom?

Full disclosure, if it wasn't obvious until now, I'm Jewish and I don't feel the least offended or appropriated by its name. Of course, I'm just one person, and I hardly represent anyone.

There is a difference between being offended by something, and something being truly offensive.

closrapexa said:

And who is it that owns the word? Jews? Inner-city residents? Maybe the Italians, since they're the ones who invented them? Germans? Who is appropriating what, and from whom?

Full disclosure, if it wasn't obvious until now, I'm Jewish and I don't feel the least offended or appropriated by its name. Of course, I'm just one person, and I hardly represent anyone.

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Simply if it doesn't apply to your experience you can't use it. That's how I feel about it and I certainly wouldn't purchase a deck by a Belgium woman labeling the Haitian folks depicted in it and their experience as Ghetto. It doesn't matter that she is profit sharing from the proceeds or that she has stated she is attempting to reclaim the word. Wouldn't buy it. Wouldn't use it. Wouldn't want a reading from anyone that has it. That's just me. Peace.

No one owns anything, but the only people that can reclaim a word are the ones whom the word was used against. Only GLBTIQ people can reclaim "dyke" and "queer". Only black people can reclaim the n-word.

I'm a Caribbean person myself and I practice a Afro-Caribbean religion. I'm not offended by this personally. However, just because I'm not personally offended doesn't mean I get to tell others when to stop being offended or when to move on after centuries of oppression especially when some still benefit from that oppression and we are a long way from social justice and equality.

I think y'all should read the blog post that squee shared. The deck was made in collaboration with a local collective of Haitian artists. They approved the use of the name.