The Quarantine Tarot (2020)

I tarocchi della quarantena
A tarot deck to navigate the roaring 2020s!

At the end of winter 2020, we were teleported to a reality that we had never imagined possible. Talking with a friend, I joked that by now the situation was so unpredictable that we’d have a better chance of foreseeing the future on cards.
Shops were closed and I suddenly had a lot of time to kill. All I had left to do was draw them myself.

Thus was born “the quarantine tarot” an illustration project reminiscent of the ancient decks of Renaissance Italy.

The deck is rigorous enough in its traditional composition to appeal a tarot enthusiast. However, my interest focused on the archetypal side of the images rather than on their esoteric connotations.

I tarocchi della quarantena are a catalogue of 78 characters, objects and situations for a combinatorial story-telling game inspired by Carl Jung and Vladimir Propp writings, in the wake of works such as the “The Fable Game” (1965) by Italian architect Enzo Mari and Italo Calvino’s “The Castle of Crossed Destinies” (1973).

No writing, no instructions: the Quarantine Tarot comes in a simple tin box with “the fool” printed on the lid.

I wanted to distance myself from the morass of esoteric meanings associated to tarot. In this deck sticks can be the bow of a viola or a bunch of mikado. Swords are broken scissors as well as the screaming beaks of a family of birds.

The major arcana follows the traditional continental-European sequence but some cards have their name changed. Here’s one: “strength” has become “resilience”, as portrayed by a fragile vase and an exuberant cat.

Each suit has a palette of colours, symbols and pattern. The four of them meet in the major arcana according to the flavour of the card.

The court cards were conceived with gender equality in mind: they don’t come in any particular order and portray two women and two men per suit. A couple of middle-aged people and two younger adults.

the Quarantine Tarot is on sale!

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