What the Cards Reveal: Hannah Evans’ Exploration of Limitation and the Self Through Tarot Card Artistry
Hannah Evans, The Sun. 2020, Digital Mixed Media.
Tarot has been around for centuries; 78 cards, each with their unique, though seemingly vague meanings and representations have guided people in their lives or connected them to the divine. While the mysticism of the tarot has left many skeptical, the cards’ true purpose is revealed by their power to reach our subconscious selves and encourage us to look inward.
At the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, Hannah Evans, an Ottawa-based artist, began to create collage pieces depicting her friends as key characters in the major and minor arcana of traditional tarot. As someone who has read tarot for several years, I was keen to hear about the inspirations and experiences which went into creating her recent art series. In our interview she explained to me that the pandemic, although limiting for her in some ways, was highly influential for her to set her plan for the tarot series into action. “When I was at photo school I found Bea Nettle’s Mountain Tarot. She’s a visual artist from the 70’s or 80’s, and she made this incredible photographic tarot deck in the dark room... they are amazing, that’s when I became interested in tarot.”
While Bea Nettle may have been what started Hannah’s brainchild for her tarot art, it was the need to connect to others and support her friends that truly initiated what would become an art series. “A friend of mine who lives out in Victoria, BC. was going through a really hard time. She loves tarot and horoscopes, so I thought, just for fun, that I’d make a card of her and her two cats. So I made her the Queen of Wands,” Hannah recalls, smiling as she tells me. “I basically made the first card of this series just to cheer her up and she loved it so much, and everyone loved it so much that I thought I should actually jump in and keep creating.” Hannah continued to reach out to friends and was able to complete many beautiful cards, mainly in the major arcana during the springtime when the pandemic first hit Ottawa.
Hannah Evans, The High Priestess. 2020, Digital Mixed Media.
When I had first seen Hannah’s tarot cards on Instagram I immediately recognized mutuals and wondered if the cards to which they were subjects were consciously tied to them. “For some subjects, I asked, ‘do you have a favourite card?’ The Sun card resonated with my friend Lauren,” she told me, “but for Loukia I picked out the Justice card because I felt that it suited her.” While it was unplanned, both Hannah and I found it to be coincidental that each card had correlation to the zodiac signs of its subjects.
Hannah emphasized that meaningful connections to the people in her life are really important to her, and one of the key obstacles and limitations during this period of isolation is her inability to have others in her space when she is creating or in her general life. “It was obviously super shocking to be alone all of a sudden,” Hannah noted, but then added that her endeavour with creating tarot collages made her feel more connected to friends and loved ones amidst the pandemic. “Right now I have a studio with a maximum capacity of one person, so I can’t even have someone come work with me. I like feedback, I like to bounce ideas off people, so I’m finding it a lot harder. But I am becoming more comfortable with my own choices.”
Hannah Evans, The Star. 2020, Digital Mixed Media.
In an elaboration of her artistic choices on this project, Hannah reflected upon her own methods and came to the conclusion that the precision of formatting and layering she had done with the tarot series was unlike any practice she had done before. “I was more spontaneous and chaotic,” she told me as she thought back to her previous work. “It was a huge learning curve to set stuff up. For painting I never really measured anything, but for digital collage it’s far more precise and I find if it’s done loosely it often looks messy.”
While different from her usual methods for creating, Hannah admitted that pushing herself to experiment in this way helped her grow as an artist. “I realized I could do it, whereas before I figured I was just loose and chill, but secretly I felt it was because I didn’t know how to be perfect… this was definitely a practice in deliberation and now I’ve found that my paintings have gotten a lot more intentional and I think I have more of an eye for composition because of it.”
Hannah explained that as the lockdown was reissued, she began thinking back on when she had first started the project and felt the urge to continue once more after a hiatus. Initially her intention was to do the major arcana, but she quickly became inspired to do a full deck. While she does plan to continue using people in her life as key subjects in the major arcana, and the royal characters as represented in the four suits of the minor arcana, she has a different plan for the numeral cards, which I am sure, if you follow her Instagram, you will see over time.
While Hannah does have various platforms on which her art is shown, she notes, “I like the ephemerality of [shows] and I like that people can only experience it the way that I want them to.” She elaborates on the idea, saying, “we put so much effort into shows to have them read the way we want them to be read.” She explained that having to do shows online are amongst the limitations and obstacles in the art community that continue to present themselves as a byproduct of the pandemic. “I want people to see the materiality and texture of the art in person,” she confesses, but she admits she has hopes that her grad show will be open to the public later in the year.
Despite her preference for in-person shows, Hannah is no stranger to online shows and recently participated in SPAO as a collaborator with artist and friend Jennifer Stewart. “Jen approached me about doing a show exploring the things that you have after a relationship, and how hard it can be to let go of stuff and move on. It was a very emotional, but super helpful show to do.” Hannah detailed to me, her excitement showing as she explained that it was her first carfac, fee-paying show, “I felt like a real artist!” The installation is incredibly powerful (even through a screen!) as it documents the emotional moments of recovery and moving on from a connection with another person.
Hannah Evans, The Lovers. 2020, Digital Mixed Media.
“I’m kind of always looking for guidance. My first solo show back in 2017 was about the Myers Briggs personality test,” Hannah told me while we were on the topic of shows. “When I first took the test, I thought oh my god, I finally feel seen. And I really identified with it. But as time went on I found myself not doing things because it didn’t suit my personality, so it became more of a prison based on the way I treated it, and I ended up changing how much of that I was taking in. But I did a show about how you identify with these personality traits, and sometimes they make you stay stagnant or they are helpful and make you feel like you’re not alone. So my first show was very similar to tarot because it was all about looking to something to find guidance and understanding of yourself.”
Who’s to say what this year holds, perhaps only the cards truly know our futures, but one thing is for sure: Hannah’s art will continue to intrigue, delight, and inspire countless people, myself included.