Tarot portraits by William Hamilton

HeartCore is pleased to bring another interpretation of the classical tarot cards, this time by artist William Hamilton, who has produced four original cards for this edition of the magazine. See the cards on the opposite page and read William’s thoughts on the works below.

As an artist, I have always strived to beautify those who have been outcast by the world, as well as social constructs, as I myself have been outcast by people throughout my life, as I didn’t fit in with societal norms. Even in art school, I always wanted to cross boundaries that people have been too uncomfortable to cross. I have done this through compelling portraits that tell stories, allowing connection through an emotive perspective between the subject and viewer. As for my work, I include the audience in being a big part of the piece.

As someone who is an avid tarot reader, I wanted to get involved and create tarot cards that I feel are compelling and connective to those who read them. With the way that I compose my work I wanted to maximise audience and subject connection through the spiritual connection of tarot.

For my series, I wanted to use portraiture to represent the tarot cards already familiar to the reader. So, my implication in using the characters was to allow the card reader to get to know the subjects in the cards more intimately.

I combined the oil painted cards with a digital format to create the symbology on the cards, which is representative of different aspects that relate to the card themes. Using traditional symbols that represent the diversity among the subjects emphasizes that tarot is an inclusive art form, as art itself is an inclusive medium. The cards that I chose to focus on for this series were the Emperor, Lovers, Justice and Strength as for me, these cards speak on worldly hardships and have created most clarity for me in my experience in tarot, and I wanted this to be available for all through my work.

William Hamilton is an /artist/ based in London. You can see more of his work on his instagram william_hamilton_t