Ayshe-Mira Yashin is an illustrator, visual artist and tarot reader based in London, working primarily in the form of visual essays, publications and analogue prints to explore themes around matriarchal folklore, land-based rituals and storytelling using serendipity as a method of enquiry. She is the creator of the Earth Mother Magic Tarot, a handmade risograph-printed tarot deck designed …
Ayshe-Mira Yashin chats to Kaan about her eco-feminist art style, deconstructing power in tarot readings and their intimate DIY process of printing each of her decks by hand. Your illustration style is really beautiful. What inspires/informs your art? My illustrations that are narrative-based or sequential, including my tarot deck, are influenced a lot by artists …
Hey Katrin, how are you up there in Edinburgh today? It’s *weathery* down here in mid-Wales for sure: threatening to rain at any and every moment, strong gusts keeping everything moving. The colours are vibrant against a grey sky backdrop. And I’m cold today. Have got snug on the sofa with a blanket and spread …
Hey Frank! Thank you for agreeing to do this. I’m sitting in our local maker space today, listening to the sloshy wet movement of cars and people outside; the sky an uninviting palette of greys. Wonder if it’s the same down there in Carmarthenshire, and how you’re doing in this last thrust of winter? Heh, …
An excerpt from Charlie's new publication, the Gay Marseille, introducing the classic Tarot de Marseille and its role as a tarot deck for the people.
"I started off my career by making alien animals and sci-fi worlds as an escape from everyday life and to heal from the brutality of the world. But now that I’m older, I feel brave enough to explore this in my work."
"Home to me feels like a return. So much of the path to liberation is the coming home, the return to the full potential of what we are and I find that home is the container that allows us to unfold in this way."
"My love of tarot is related to this love of old things, this connection I feel with every printmaker and tarot reader that has come before me. So for me, letterpress and tarot go together quite naturally, and thus the Tarot of Sorts was born."
"It is a deck that speaks softly, but strikes deep with its insight. It is a deck that acknowledges the politics that govern our lives, but remembers that we must fight to solve the problems they cause – and we do not have to fight alone."
"I believe we are spiritual beings, but we can't bypass that whole 'having a human experience' part and everything that comes with it."
"I love the way sound can transport us, a portal into our inner landscapes and wisdom, an opportunity to learn to listen more deeply to ourselves."
Following up on the success of their Jewitchy deck the Hidden Light Tarot, Oli Starfrosting's new Talisman Tarot is a queer descendant of the Tarot de Marseilles.
"I believe that resistance and revolution can be seeded in art. Allowing our brains to experiment with different futures can help those futures feel possible."
Charlie is a non-binary spirit in a human home who's gay for other queers! Based in Portland, Oregon, Charlie is the artist and author behind the Fifth Spirit Tarot.
"I imagine the Shrine of the Black Medusa as a space where you can be your full self, with all of your trauma, faults, charms, and questions"
"...my queer art is this way: it is loud, it is intense, it is sensual and dark and unapologetic and looks nightmares and reality (and the overlap) in the eye."
"As an indigenous woman, it has been natural for me to incorporate people of color and the indigenous spiritual values that I grew up with into my work. The Gentle Tarot is for anybody wanting some gentle, loving support."
"A lot of us are on similar journeys to reclaim stolen and forgotten parts of our history, cultural identity and - honestly - ourselves."
"My entire queer feminist being is so entwined with PHAEDRA, and I like it that way. My main aim was simplicity, and with that comes an openness with which any identity can find comfort."
"It’s frustrating to me that in 2019 we don’t see remotely accurate depictions of diversity in our media. This deck is my humble attempt to fill in some gaps."
"Inspiration came from Rookie’s aesthetic, which resonates strongly with me as it’s very DIY, zine-like. I grew up in the 90s so I have a soft spot for collage."
"I’m printing this deck for anyone else who likes to look at tarot cards, and laugh, and feel that there is space for their version of beauty."
"I built a portfolio full of melanated goddesses with creamy brown skin tones embracing their femininity and power. I love making art that makes my sisters feel good about themselves."
On creating the Guided Hand Tarot, a subversive, queer, collage deck inspired by Hilda af Klint and Hannah Hoch.
