by interview with justin aversano on ‘Smoke and Mirrors’
In ‘Smoke and Mirrors’, lives in Los Angeles photographer and artist Justin Aversano creates his own version of the tarot deck through a mixed-media approach that blends the digital and analog worlds. Since 2018, Aversano has photographed 78 groups of artists, astrologers, psychics, and other forms of mystics from around the world, each depicting a unique tarot card in his Polaroid deck. “It’s people that have been in my life, that I’ve connected with, looked up to, wanted to connect with – this project has allowed me to make those connections through art.” he says design boom.
After taking the black and white portrait of each person, Aversano converts the photograph into a screen print that is printed on Egyptian papyrus paper, which he then photographs again and turns into a photograph NFT. “I call them tarot scrolls because they’re silkscreened onto papyrus and it’s a way of marrying the ancient paper with modern printing processes and then bringing it onto the blockchain.” he explains. “It works with the past, the present and the future and plays with time in how it is conceived and executed.”
all images © Justin Aversano
Dealing with death through art
As in previous projects justin aversanos “Smoke and Mirrors” addresses a theme that is as universal as it is personal to the artist: death. “All my projects have this element of death”, he says during our interview. “If you look at the birthday project, it’s in honor of my mom, when she was alive and going through chemo, and how to celebrate life and appreciate every day and everyone in it. Cognition started after my mother died, just after the birthday project, and it was about picking up the pieces of me that were fragmented – collage is the best way to do that. And then I started Twin Flames two years later and that was more to honor my twin who died before we were born. Smoke and Mirrors is for my dad and it’s about confronting death before it happens and its inevitability. He’s still alive, but he tells me every day that he’s going to die soon. I want to confront that feeling and not heal from it afterwards and actually confront it along with it.’
For Aversano, what sets Smoke and Mirrors apart is the plot, the journey, and where death takes you or allows you to live a whole new life. Through this project he was able to talk more about death, understand it and not be afraid of it. His father’s photo, the death card, shows him at the grave of Aversano’s mother, next to a headstone that also bears his own surname.“The most important thing is love and the time you spend with a person. That is the true gift of death before it happens. Once you feel like it’s going to happen, all you can do is spend time with them. There is no other way, it will happen to all of us. Many people connect with me through my art. Parents walk by, or someone in their life walks by. Death connects us all because we all experience it.’
the death card
FROM POLAROIDS TO SCREENS AND NFTS
For each of the 78 portrait photographs, Aversano makes a black and white version and then screen prints it. “Screen printing feels like being inside a camera.” he explains. “When you expose the paper, it’s like exposing the film, and when you press the squeegee, it’s like pressing the shutter. I love talking about how screen printing actually feels like a photographic process, where the screen is the mirror and the light is the ink.” Each of the screenprints is printed on paper sourced from Egypt. “It’s really ancestral activated, and I like to say that this project is for the ancestors, for our parents. That’s what this project is really for, how do you show your life to your family? And for me it’s through my art, through the lens and how I see the world and how I want to connect with people. Art is the best excuse to create and connect with other people.”
Aversano also draws a parallel between the project and Egyptian hieroglyphs. “In a way, we are creating new hieroglyphs, or neoglyphs.” he notices. “In ancient times they drew glyphs of everyday things, and I wondered what would hieroglyphs look like today? For me, photography is the best way to convey this because they are images of reality. The papyrus also lends itself so well to the idea of the tarot concept and how ancient the stories and humanity itself are. I want to connect our old selves and work with the blockchain, connecting these two worlds, the old and the new, the analogue and the digital. Not only in the final NFTs, but also in the process.”
king of coins
“SMOKE AND MIRROR” EXHIBITED IN LOS ANGELES AND BERLIN
After four years of development, Smoke and Mirrors will be exhibited at Gabba Gallery in Los Angeles from March 25th to April 8th, 2023 and then at EXPANDED.ART in Berlin from April 25th to May 14th. The 78 pieces of the project will be on display along with a book that comes with a tarot deck with Polaroids. “It’s my own version of the tarot, so the book includes all the photos in it and references the cards that represent them.” says Aversano. “So when you do readings, the book shows you what the cards mean.”
Black and white version of King of Coins
Nine of Swords
Nine Wands
Screenprinted by Nine of Staffs
Ten cups
