Justin Aversano - Smoke and Mirrors - Collection of 78 Tarot Portraits

August 7th, 2018 - October 4th, 2021 For “Smoke and Mirrors'' I photographed 78 sets of artists, astrologers, psychics, tarot readers, and other forms of mystics from all around the world. Each subject represents a unique tarot card. I am creating a body of work focused on the existence of magic and mysticism through an immersive portrait survey and tarot readings. In the proverb of storytelling, psychics, and astrologers have an assigned position as the all-knowing gypsy with profound visions, within all concurrent and historical cultures—a charged spirit of the ethereal that encompasses destiny, luck, and faith. Combining the elements of the real (photographic) and the surreal (painting) to facilitate a broad & reflexive mixed-media dialogue that discerns the characters, their powers, and the significance of their presence in this natural world. So that together, we may raise the vibration of consciousness.