Anna Luna Astolfi, Il Matto è il Mondo – Tarots, 2024

The Tarot is an art that does not allow itself to be imprisoned by any kind of rigidity: the Arcana that compose them are a mirror and not a truth in themselves. They are chameleons, transforming themselves to suit the observer. If we seem to see our own lives in them, it is because the juxtaposition of their images can contain any story, therefore ours as well. The photographs that make up The Fool is The World – Tarot were created by walking through each Arcana with the aim of remaining faithful to and at the same time constantly betraying the original iconography of the Tarot by combining tarology, stage-photography and photographic journaling. The Triumphs, or Major Arcana, form a narrative that condenses in itself all the experiences that a human being can live in the span of his or her existence since they are an expression of a complete initiatory journey. In this work, through the photographic image, we appropriate the stages of that journey by imagining the Triumphs outside their own paper. They are here made alive and fleshed out; they are observed within their own garments and beyond the frame of the paper that contains them.

Inside the box set, in addition to the 22 Major Arcana, a booklet serving as a guide briefly introduces the history of the Tarot and illustrates the composition and characteristics of the deck of cards, describing, in addition, each figure through key words, a short text and some questions that the card may inspire. In the second booklet, an essay by Emanuele E. Pelilli and a short story by Alessandro Carrer provide further insight into the theme.