Babel Polyphony: On Tarot, Language and Forgotten Iconography

Babel Polyphony: On Tarot, Language and Forgotten Iconography – a Presentation by Laetitia Barbier

In his 1973 novel, The Castle of Crossed Destinies, Italian author Italo Calvino relates the tale of a group of travelers who, having lost their voice, re-articulate their life stories with the help of Tarot cards, using the 15th Century Visconti-Sforza deck. Morphed into a new visual dialect with 78 words of vocabulary, Calvino's novel beautifully exemplifies how Tarot’s evocative power transcends speech and helps us formulate new ways to communicate who we are. Although Tarot was invented as a card game during the Renaissance, we tend to associate it with divination and as an introspective tool. Yet, if cards are meant to be read, one can wonder what language it is that they ultimately speak? Like any other form of communication with a 600 years history span, the way we understand the Major Arcana has evolved, being reinvented from one generation to the next.

In this talk, Laetitia Barbier will examine Tarot as a visual culture in motion, by looking at it through the lens of art history, iconology and pop culture. If images barely change, what we read in them does. By looking at the example of the Hanged Man, we’ll be conjuring the accidental scholarship of Hannibal Lecter, crime and punishment in Renaissance Italy, Saint Sebastian—and. why not, Hello Kitty!--to show how Tarot’s subjectivity ultimately helps us find our unique voice and reclaim our own narrative.

Bio:

French-born is an independent scholar, as well as a professional tarot reader and teacher. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Art History from La Sorbonne University Paris in 2009. Laetitia has worked with Morbid Anatomy since 2011 as a programming director, head librarian, and occasional curator. Her book Tarot and Divination Cards: A Visual Archive was published in 2021 with a foreword by Rachel Pollack. She is the author of the Tiger Tarot Guide Book, a unique Tarot deck by symbolist artist Lori Field. Laetitia has lectured, taught and read cards for various cultural institutions, such as Greenwood Cemetery, Fotografiska NY, the College of Psychic Studies in London or the New York Public Library. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Image Credits: Hanged Man from the Noblet Tarot, 1659, from the BNF collection

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