The Manifesting Paradise Deck
An Exploration of Omens through Generations.
Manifesting Paradise is a Tarot Deck created by interdisciplinary artist, Adrienne Elise Tarver.
The deck includes the traditional 78 tarot cards reimagined, including the 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana.
The images, symbols, colors, and figures reflect the perspective of a Black female protagonist harnessing the power of the elements.
The Minor Arcana suits, Air, Water, Earth, and Fire, reflect how closely connected this deck is to the inherent knowledge of the natural world.
See the deck.
HOW THE PROJECT STARTED
Manifesting Paradise started amongst BLM protests and a pandemic in mid-2020 and explores the desire to know that there is progress and beauty in the future.
This project looks to the future and is an exploration of the endurance, permanence, and resonance of symbols, imagery, ideas, and omens through generations.
THE PROJECT’S HISTORY
The Manifesting Paradise project has taken many forms as I’ve worked on developing the images for each card. It started as an exploration of the archetypes of the Major Arcana and I quickly decided to expand the project to eventually create a whole deck. While working on the 78 tarot images, reimagined through my visual language, the works on paper filled my studio and entered conversations during visits to my studio. This was the beginning of this project’s many lives.
The Manifesting Paradise project has since lived as the original works on paper, video installations, tapestries, and a collaged mural. The project has been exhibited nationally in museums, galleries, art fairs, and the streets of New York. Finally, the project will culminate in a printed deck of all 78 cards available to everyone.
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Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, CT, 2021
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Art Basel Miami with Welancora Gallery, December 2023
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"Manifest" video from solo exhibition "To Learn the Dark" at OCHI Gallery, LA, February 2023
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Armory Art Fair with Welancora Gallery, 2021
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Public Art Fund "Art on the Grid" Exhibition, 2020
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Mural Installation - Google Offices, NYC, 2020
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THE IMAGERY
The original images for the cards were handmade using a combination of ink, oil pastels, and colored pencils on watercolor paper. Each card’s array of warm, lush hues evoke the allure of paradise and the fantasy of the tropics, inviting users to immerse themselves in a realm of vibrant colors and verdant imagery.
“Artist Adrienne Elise Tarver had been interested in tarot for years, but she never really saw how the practice could fit into her artwork. But all that changed in mid-2020 amid Black Lives Matters protests and the ongoing pandemic. “It was like this veil between these things that we didn't talk about before [was lifted],” says Tarver of the summer of 2020. “Our real-life became so thin and permeable, that this idea of talking about spirituality, the future, and terror, felt much more serious. It felt like a necessary investigation for myself, and a necessary conversation for me to have.” Soon after, Manifesting Paradise — a hopeful, tarot-inspired project that looks to the future — was born.”
GET THE DECK
The full tarot deck will launch in the future. Featuring 78 cards representing the Major and Minor Arcana, each card is brought to life through the artist’s unique visual language. Sign up for updates about the launch to secure your own deck.
About the Artist
Adrienne Elise Tarver is an interdisciplinary artist with a practice that spans painting, sculpture, installation, textiles, photography, and video. Her work addresses the complexity and invisibility of the black female identity. She has exhibited nationally and abroad, including notable solo exhibitions at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, CT; the Academy Art Museum, MD; and Atlanta Contemporary, GA. She has been featured in online and print publications including the New York Times, Forbes, Brooklyn Magazine, ArtNews, ArtNet, Whitewall Magazine, and Hyperallergic, among others. She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and BFA from Boston University.
