Archetypes as Emotional Structures
Tarot has always offered a way to understand the inner world through symbolic figures rather than literal stories. Each card conveys an emotional configuration, a pattern of instinct, fear, awakening, or transformation. My surreal portraits operate through a similar emotional architecture. The faces, glows, and botanical forms are never meant to portray literal individuals; they function as archetypes that describe a state of being. The artwork becomes a container for an emotional moment, whether it is stillness before a decision, tension that vibrates beneath the surface, or a quiet truth rising slowly into recognition.
Faces as Containers of Inner Worlds
The figures in my work rarely display overt expression. Their emotion is carried through stillness, symmetry, and subtle distortion, much like tarot figures who reveal depth without drama. A calm, unreadable face can hold the same interior gravity as the High Priestess, while a doubled or fractured visage recalls the layered identity suggested by cards such as the Lovers or Judgement. In this way, the surreal portrait stops being a likeness and becomes a symbolic doorway into the viewer’s own interior.
Multiplicity and the Archetype of Duality
Duality is one of tarot’s most persistent themes. Light and shadow, intuition and logic, conscious and unconscious forces exist side by side. My mirrored faces, multiplied features, and repeated eyes are visual echoes of this tension. They show the moment when the self does not align perfectly, when different impulses pull in different directions. Rather than depicting confusion, these images reflect the complexity that lives inside all emotional transitions. Multiplicity becomes its own archetype, describing the delicate balance between competing inner truths.
Glow as Intuitive Signal
Light in tarot is always symbolic. It marks clarity, insight, and moments when spiritual or emotional understanding becomes visible. The light in my portraits behaves in the same way. It rises from the figure rather than the environment, illuminating cheeks, throats, or botanical centres as if intuition itself were glowing outward. This inner illumination guides the viewer toward the emotional core of the piece, identifying the region of the portrait where the deeper truth sits. The glow acts as an intuitive signal, subtle but unmistakable.
Colour as Emotional Archetype
Tarot relies on colour as a code that speaks long before language. I use colour in my work with this same intentionality. Instead of functioning as aesthetic decoration, each tone establishes a psychological climate inside the portrait. Deep reds create a sense of pressure or internal ignition, as if something within the figure is beginning to rise. Blues draw the image toward introspection and dream logic, shaping the portrait as a space of inner listening. Greens carry the sensation of emotional transformation, the kind that unfolds slowly and sometimes through difficulty. Pinks hold tenderness and vulnerability, softening the atmosphere around the figure and inviting closeness. Golds and yellows introduce coherence and a kind of quiet revelation, the feeling of something finally clicking into place. When these colours surround or emerge from the figure, they define the archetype of the portrait as clearly as a tarot card defines its own emotional landscape.
Botanical Forms as Living Symbols
In tarot, plants often mark cycles, renewal, harmony, or intuition. The botanicals in my surreal portraits echo these meanings but extend them into new emotional territory. A flower that emerges from the figure can suggest a feeling ready to surface. A mirrored leaf can signal balance after a period of internal tension. Small seed-like shapes may represent potential that has not yet revealed itself. Botanical motifs become emotional extensions of the figure, shaping the portrait as a living archetype rather than a static depiction.
Distortion as Emotional Truth
Tarot imagery frequently embraces distortion to communicate psychological states. Figures stretch, hover, or shift proportions to express something deeper than realism. My own distortions follow this tradition. An enlarged eye can represent heightened awareness. A softened or elongated cheekbone can indicate surrender or receptivity. A subtly shifted facial plane can suggest transition. Distortion becomes a language for the emotions that rarely find precise words.
Archetypes of Stillness, Revelation, and Transition
Each portrait sits somewhere within a cycle of emotional archetypes. Some radiate stillness, the kind of presence that holds knowledge without displaying it. Others reveal tension or clarity, showing the moment when internal pressure breaks into visibility. Still others depict transition, where colours shift, faces multiply, or features bend gently toward a new emotional direction. These stages mirror the tarot’s moving structure, where each card reflects not events but states of soul.
A Contemporary Tarot of the Self
My art does not reproduce tarot iconography, but it reflects its emotional logic. Each surreal portrait becomes a contemporary card—an image designed not to tell a story but to reflect one. The viewer encounters a figure that listens, absorbs, and invites interpretation. In this way, the artwork becomes not only a visual experience but an emotional mirror. The archetype lives not just in the portrait but in the person standing before it.
