Surrealism, Horror, and Esotericism: ‘The Somnia Tarot’ Project by American Photographer Nicolas Bruno

Abstract

The purpose of the study was the examination of The Somnia Tarot deck by the American photographer Nicolas Bruno as an example of the conjunction of the Surrealist and horror aesthetics with the concepts of the Western esoteric tradition. The Somnia Tarot can be attributed to the completely author’s decks created by the artist based on his own knowledge of this mantic system. Its appearance seems to be especially relevant in the modern cultural context characterized by a growing interest in esotericism in general, and in particular in the practices associated with the Tarot (fortune-telling, Tarot meditation, the use of cards in various types of psychotherapy). The author provided a comparative analysis of the interpretation of characters, plots, the choice of the scene in the arcana of The Somnia Tarot deck and the now classic Tarot deck of Ryder-Waite. The researcher concluded that in ‘The Somnia Tarot project Bruno created a modern author’s reading of the classic deck interpreting the traditional symbolism of the cards through his own artistic vocabulary. The leitmotif of the cards is Bruno’s classic faceless characters, heroes with blindfolds or faces hidden by hair placed in dangerous and absurd situations. Born by the artist’s imagination, the deck is distinguished by a disturbing atmosphere and special beauty, akin to Surrealist convulsive beauty, elements of the grotesque, and the presence of black humor. Nicolas Bruno’s Tarot universe is a world of dreams and nightmares both beautiful and hopeless.