SEAMS project aims to amalgamate Southeast Asia’s rich folk narratives into one cohesive deck
The artwork for the ‘Three of Swords’ card is inspired by the Sarawakian tale of ‘Puteri Santubong and Puteri Sejinjang’.
THE tale of ‘Puteri Santubong and Puteri Sejinjang’ is well-known throughout Sarawak, narrating a love triangle between two heavenly princesses who were sisters and a mortal prince.
It relates how jealousy and sadness caused by unrequited love could have serious consequences and might inflict more sorrow to the people around oneself.
What Sarawakians may not know is that such tragic tale has inspired a card in an all-new tarot deck produced exclusively by Southeast Asian artists and tarot professionals.
Traditionally used as a ‘cartomancy’ tool, tarot provides clues to one’s future path based on present conditions and sometimes, it offers guidance or solutions based on intuition.
Today, it is more than just that, and the Southeast Asian Myths and Stories (SEAMS) Tarot project aims to prove what tarot could be on a wider spectrum.
The collaborative project features a diverse membership of artists from all across Southeast Asia, and the myths and stories that the people in the region share.
Uniting tarot communities
Ong holds the prototype of the SEAMS tarot deck.
In an exclusive interview, overall project coordinator and Singaporean tarot reader Rowen Ong told thesundaypost about how the tale of Puteri Santubong and Puteri Sejinjang was chosen as one of the stories representing Malaysia.
According to him, the ‘Suit of Swords’ in tarot is a collection of 14 cards associated with challenges and logic.
“In the traditional tarot, the ‘Three of Swords’ is a card of heartbreak, harming people who are closest to you.
“A fight between two sisters over the love of a guy is heartbreak on so many levels,” said Ong.
He said the SEAMS project kicked off in January this year following a discussion that he had with famous tarot artist Lynyrd-Jym Marquez Narciso from the Philippines regarding what could be done to unite the various tarot communities in the region.
Narciso is SEAMS tarot project’s art director.
“Pre-colonial myths and stories of Southeast Asia are always on the minds of the people. After so many years of colonial rule and even in independence, these stories are still taught to children and to the younger people.
“We choose to reimagine these stories as part of the tarot project. It is a collection of stories that can educate, as well as show tarot in a different light.
“We chose the acronym SEAMS because it is so very relevant to what we are doing in the project – we are ‘seaming together’ the various tapestries of our rich folk narratives into a cohesive whole; a tarot deck,” he said, adding that Narciso would serve as the overall art director for the project.
Ong, who is also Singapore Tarot and Cartomancy Association chairman, said there were also eight other cards based on Malaysian myths and stories.
“They are the ‘Lovers’ (‘Ulek Mayang’); ‘Justice’ (‘Makam Mahsuri’); ‘Three of Cups’ (‘Telaga Tujuh Waterfalls’); ‘Five of Cups’ (‘Mount Kinabalu’); ‘Seven of Cups’ (‘Puteri Gunung Ledang’); ‘Five of Swords’ (‘Hang Tuah and His Fight with Hang Jebat’); and ‘Six of Swords’ (‘Princess Hang Li Po Meeting The Sultan of Melaka’).
“The artists involved are Tee Eng Lim, Zee Tan, Justin Saw, Eugene Leong and Han Hung Siew,” he added.
Ong also revealed that initially a Sarawakian artist and tarot enthusiast was supposed to design the ‘Puteri Santubong-Puteri Sejinjang’ card.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, he was not on the team.”
Involvement of many talents
The ‘Happy Squirrel’ card, with its cute artwork, is actually based on the more macabre Borneo legend, the ‘Vampire Squirrel’.
There are 80 cards in total, with a companion guidebook. The deck consists of the standard 78 cards of the tarot, namely the 22 ‘Major Arcana’ cards and the 56 ‘Minor Arcana’ cards.
Also included are a cover card and a very special ‘Happy Squirrel’ card – the latter is a ‘wild card’ found only in some tarot decks.
Ong said the ‘Happy Squirrel’ card was inspired by yet another Borneo legend, the ‘Vampire Squirrel’, and was designed by Filipino artist Pepot Atienza.
“It is a legendary squirrel that lives in the jungles of Borneo, and is so fierce that its prey includes deer. Its teeth are like saws, and it can consume the blood and organs of its victims.
“Our representation of the ‘Vampire Squirrel’ is cute, even though it has just killed a deer.
“It wears an ornate mask of a high priest and in its hands is a ‘wayang kulit’ (shadow puppet) that depicts a devil.
“It’s added to the deck for fun,” he said.
Photo shows a sample of tarot cards inspired by folktales from the mainland Southeast Asian countries.
A total of 35 artists have contributed to the project, including big names like Narciso himself, Dr Ngo Ho Anh Khoi who is the founder and curator of the Museum of Tarot in Vietnam, and tarot master Pak Suhendri of Indonesia.
For the record, this project is officially endorsed by the Museum of Tarot in Vietnam – the first of its kind in this region dedicated to the research and studies of tarot.
There are also several other team members who have provided their professional support and expertise in other fields to make the project a reality.
Beyond fortune-telling
Artist Justin Saw shows his artwork of the ‘Mount Kinabalu’ legend for the ‘Five of Cups’ card.
Singaporean cosplay photographer Larry Lee holds up an artwork inspired by a Bruneian legend.
The ‘Kickstarter’ crowdfunding campaign for SEAMS Tarot would be officially launched this May 25, which happens to be ‘World Tarot Day’.
Ong described seeing the project come to fulfilment as ‘a very good feeling’.
“It is also a goal to promote cooperation between the various nations under Asean, as well as to show the world that arts and tarot can unite people.
“In order to appeal to the younger audiences, the myths and stories have been reimagined with a different art style. In addition, we have decided to have professional cosplay photoshoots for some of the cards, as well as events and competitions,” he said.
On the ‘Kickstarter’ campaign, Ong said the main proceeds from it and also from the sales of the deck would be used to fund the inaugural ‘Southeast Asian Tarot Conference’, set to be held in Singapore next year.
He said the main goal of the conference would be to promote the interactions among the various nations and also to showcase the development of tarot in the region.
Some of the artworks are based on ‘Nusantara’ (Malay Archipelago) legends.
The conference would also have an art exhibition featuring all the cards of the SEAMS Tarot deck, which would eventually be exhibited in Vietnam and other countries in the region.
“We also want to promote the view that tarot could be used in many ways other than as a fortune-telling tool.
“For instance – in this case, it could retell the well-known tales from various Southeast Asian nations, just like an educational tool.
“It could also be a template for cosplayers to imagine themselves differently, or even as a tool for scriptwriting and advanced story-telling,” added Ong.