Tarot de Marseille

The New Marseille Tarot

The idea of reinterpreting the enigmatic Marseille Tarot was born at the beginning of my artistic journey. It's the union of a young photographer and his great-uncle, a cartomancer. During a reading one evening when I was 17, I discovered, fascinated, these images from the 15th century. The cards started to speak, and Gepeto arranged a meeting with me, without a set date or time, with a promise of a joint project. Seven years later, he shared his wish with me: to introduce the tarot into the new century. An interpretation through photography of these timeless iconographies. It felt like a natural fit!

While continuing my experiments as a photographer-artist, I studied alongside him the foundations of this oracle: its symbolism, its forms, its colors, its philosophy, its history... And of course, its mysteries. While Gepeto conceptualized a series of symbols representing the major arcana (the reverse side of the current cards), I, with my friend and artist Etienne de Fleurieu as a model, developed the initial tests for the card of the Magician. The vision was taking shape, but one summer evening, my uncle left us. Continuing this project without him was no longer conceivable. My inspirations led me to other works, but I still held the desire to bring it to life one day.

It took fifteen years for the rebirth to occur. In 2022, as if in urgency, I dusted off my sketches of the Magician. Shortly after, I crossed paths with Anthony Morabito and his artistic eye. He became the catalyst I needed. His aesthetic sense and conceptual ideas accompanied me throughout the creation process. This work is the quintessence of my artistic endeavors, a blend of modern processes and older techniques that I have always explored in my surrealistic photographs.

This Tarot deck is autobiographical. I chose my models based on the resonance with the roles they embody. There are friends, family members, and above all, those encounters that make life magical. Each of them has their own little story. For example, when I met Marie-Christine Gennart and Eric Panichi, after telling them that they would respectively embody the Pope and the High Priestess, we drew a card. She drew the High Priestess, he drew the Pope. Between chance and destiny...

This work will be showcased under several forms. After the success of its crowdfunding campaign, the tarot decks finally exist in the form of the original Marseille tarot deck and are available here for a limited time.

The first exhibitions, ARCANES, will start in Paris and Bruxelles in 2025.

To learn more read the Cult.News interview :
https://cult.news/tendances/stephane-fedorowsky-ce-jeu-de-tarot-est-un-puzzle-sensible-de-ma-toile-de-vie/