The cards not only inform and reflect Morison’s practice, but have shaped the way the Four Worlds project has evolved. Throughout its development, the collaborators have used the cards to guide creative decisions. By hosting public readings, Four Worlds extends this process to audiences, offering space for reflection on questions—creative or otherwise—within the heightened context of an art fair. The act is both intimate and disarming, creating an exchange where vulnerability and agency meet, and where the interaction between reader and participant becomes part of the artwork.
[Installation at Aotearoa Art Fair 2024, photo: Jono Parker for ECC. USM shelving / ECC.]
The first edition of Four Worlds Tarot deck was launched at the 2024
Aotearoa Art Fair, where Four Worlds hosted public tarot readings throughout
the fair. The booth was facilitated by Jonathan
Smart Gallery / Emily Gardener Projects, with installation design by Knight Associates. Readings were
held within a purpose-built structure that displayed a selection of ceramic
heads from Julia Morison’s large body of work Head[case] (2015–2021).
[Harriette Herlund hosting a reading at Aotearoa Art Fair 2024]
[Selected works from Julia Morison’s Arcana, 2025, 22 unique bronze casts, shown alongside their corrosponding card from the Four Worlds tarot deck]
At the core of Morison’s art practice is an investigation of systems of ordering and systematising form and content – from Euclidian geometry, the legacies of constructivism and formal abstraction, through to the interrogation and reimagining of alchemy, number symbolism, and, in particular, the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah. Morison’s work Arcana extends on this interest in the Kabbalah, looking at the Sephirotic Tree and its possible overlay with tarot.
Arcana presents 22 unique bronze casts depicting the major arcana cards of the tarot deck. This was Morison’s first body of work in bronze. At Sydney Contemporary the works were arranged in a circle, holding space for a reading table within. Morison’s digital illustrations for the Four Worlds Tarot, in part, acted as prepatory drawings for the bronze depictions of the major arcana.
Arcana presents 22 unique bronze casts depicting the major arcana cards of the tarot deck. This was Morison’s first body of work in bronze. At Sydney Contemporary the works were arranged in a circle, holding space for a reading table within. Morison’s digital illustrations for the Four Worlds Tarot, in part, acted as prepatory drawings for the bronze depictions of the major arcana.
[Dr. Anna Smith hosting a reading within Arcana at Sydney Contemporary 2025]
Readings were held thoughout the duration of the fair with the Four Worlds Tarot deck, connecting with more than 60 participants over five days.
The remaining editions of the Four Worlds Tarot deck that were launched at Sydney Contemporary are now available for purchase here.
The remaining editions of the Four Worlds Tarot deck that were launched at Sydney Contemporary are now available for purchase here.