“Legend has it…”, is a phrase that is used to start many stories, but we all know that in South East Asia, we all can recall many legends that have been told to us. Hearing tales from our grandparents, to the uncles and aunties we meet, we may have heard these stories somewhere. Now, we are going to see them come to life! The Southeast Asian Myths and Stories (SEAMS) Tarot Project aims to use tarot as a medium to showcase to the world the legends of Southeast Asia, and to also prove what tarot could be on a wider spectrum.
Cards And Design
There will be 80 cards in total, with a companion guidebook, containing the standard 78 card of tarot (22 “Major Arcana” and 56 “Minor Arcana”). For this special deck, a “Wild Card” is also added into some decks called the “Happy Squirrel”, inspired by the Borneo legend of the “Vampire Squirrel”, and designed by Filipino artist Pepot Atienza.
A total of 35 artists from all around the region have contributed to the designs of the cards. These include big names like famous tarot artist Lynyrd-Jym Marquez Narciso from Philippines, tarot master Pak Suhendri of Indonesia, and Dr Ngo Ho Anh Khoi, founder and curator of the Museum of Tarot in Vietnam. Thanks to the efforts from the team, this project has also been endorsed by the Museum of Tarot in Vietnam – the first museum of in the region dedicated to the research and studies of Tarot.
Crowd Funding Campaign
The Kickstarter campaign for SEAMS Tarot will be officially launched on 25 May 2021, which coincides with World Tarot Day. Overall project coordinator Rowen Ong, Chairman of the Singapore Tarot and Cartomancy Association, commented that it is a goal to “promote cooperation between the various nations under ASEAN, as well as to show the world that arts and tarot can unite people”.
He added that to appeal to the younger audiences, the ASEAN myths and stories have been “reimaged with a different art style” to cater to them. They have also planned to have professional cosplay photoshoots, events, and competition to help drive awareness for the project.
Main proceeds from the Kickstarter campaign, and the sales of the deck, would help to fund the inaugural “Southeast Asian Tarot Conference”, set to be held in Singapore. The conference’s main goal is to promote interactions among the various nations and showcase the development of tarot in the region. There would also be an art exhibition during the conference to feature all of the cards in the SEAMS Tarot deck, which is planned to also be exhibited in Vietnam and other countries in the region.
More Than Cards
Rowan added that through this conference and project, he wants to promote the view that “tarot could be used in many ways other than as a fortune-telling tool”. He also added that for this project, it can be used to “retell the well-known tales from various Southeast Asian nations, just like an education tool”, and be used as a “template for cosplayers” or “a tool for scriptwriting and advanced storytelling”.
What You Can Do
You can support this Kickstarter campaign to help bring this amazing project to life and have a hand in supporting the Inaugural “Southeast Asian Tarot Conference”. Access the Kickstarter campaign here or for more information, contact the SEAMS Tarot project via their Facebook or Instagram.
So take this chance this World Tarot Day to support a unique project that unites the region not just through our beliefs, but by our stories.
