The Floriography Tarot Story

I am deeply inspired by the idea that our human experience can be divided into a set of distinct and highly relatable archetypes. I believe that when we are confronted with a spread of cards, a general scenario or metaphor is presented, which may bring up powerful associations to our own lives. We then seek to find the reason behind the immediate thoughts that our mind evokes as a result of the cards, as they represent our most sincere thoughts and feelings.

Following the style of my past artwork, I created each card by collaging antique family photographs unearthed during my personal research into my genealogy and family history. My research took me through my recent ancestors from Cuba and led me through an informative and emotional adventure through Spain and Portugal, wars and epidemics, and the romances that endured on to form a multitude of descendants.

As a response to the political and economic unrest of the 1950s and 60s, my family fled Cuba to begin a new life in Miami with limited funds and possessions. The few surviving photo albums and stacks of loose pictures are priceless glimpses into my family’s homeland and culture from the irretrievable times before the exile.

Many of the figures whose images I borrowed for this deck are living members of my family, while others I can only know through these old photographs and documents. In addition to my family photos, I also incorporated Victorian and damask textures as well as source imagery from a 1970s belly-dancing newspaper and a rare 1913 issue of National Geographic magazine to complete the vibrant scenes depicted in each card.

Floriography Tarot is inspired by the Victorian custom of floriography, or "the language of flowers," through which people exchanged messages and expressed their sentiments using symbols attributed to certain flowers and plants. In this deck, you will find ancient interpretations of herbs, plants, and flowers, as well as classic Victorian symbolism and more current interpretations for the modern Tarot reader.

The heads of the Major Arcana characters are replaced with intuitively chosen and symbolically relevant herbs, plants, flowers, and trees—living, breathing, and expanding entities. In doing so, I suggest that heads not only present one’s physical likeness, but they also possess a great deal of information about their character and personality.

By replacing heads with other forms, an almost-religious distance is created between the viewer and the characters in the artwork, obscuring their identity and creating a sense of mystery and reverence towards the figure. Over time, as with saints, gods, deities, and mythological figures the characters’ identities have deconstructed into symbolism and imagery rather than a recognizable and unique individual.