"CRISIS IN CARE"
VERMONT COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS
KALYA LEACH
Kay Leach is a visual artist who claims magick as a medium.
Through art as everyday magic and ritual, she creates feminist narratives by documenting and performing in her femme queer body. Kay’s artistic practice navigates her trauma inflicted through societal assumptions, expectations, and exploitation of the female body, mind, and soul. Using shame as a catalyst for transformation, Kay has reclaimed her sources of trauma through ritual performance and reimagining the ancient art of Tarot. Kay’s goal as an artist is to generate power in the mind, body, and spirit by creating rituals and tools to conjure that power within herself and her audience.
For her graduate exhibition, Kay has decided to highlight six of the seventy-eight tarot cards of The Lucid Dreams Tarot. Though, all 78 tarot images are not a part of the exhibition, the ones that are hold high significance to her and the cohort. In the language of the tarot, Kay contextualizes the artwork present in this virtual space within the realm of spirituality and magick by choosing a card from the tarot deck she created to pair with the work of the artists in this exhibition. She invites you to discern which energies correlate with each member of this exhibition through these six works and the intuitive writings that correspond.
COHORT TAROT
Justice
The melding of emotional intelligence and critical thought. All is just.
integrity—perfection—self-examination—conscience—values
Justice is the elder sibling of Strength. Justice represents an ability to keep softness and grace in our hearts while sharpening the blade of our mind to protect that softening. Exploring the balancing act of good vs. evil can leave our hearts sore with how much unbalance there is in our society. The realization that there is no true justice, fairness, or equity makes us want to rip our hair out, but instead of averting our eyes or hiding away in a dreamland of beauty—Justice directs our moral compass past superficiality. Justice allows for awareness and acceptance for the happenings of this human experience that are out of our individual control. We can be aware of the horrors of humanity, but we cannot allow them to destroy our desire for safety and security. Remember that fear will never be stronger than love.
The Devil
The catastrophe of the mirror held up to ourselves and the reflection of our delusions staring back at us.
suffering—insidious—deep-rooted—oppression—karmic
The Devil represents all that holds us back in life. Our shackles are welded from our genetic roots, our soul’s path of cyclical lessons, and our ability—or inability to transcend the script we were given at birth. Looking at ourselves in the mirror and seeing all of the lines on our face, mimicking ringlets of water after the disruption of a thrown stone or gentle finger—they ripple just the same. They ripple like the consequences of our actions and choices throughout this life, they are a weathered memory of crossroads between life and death, strength and fragility, and war and peace. There is a saying that our face is the image of the one we loved most in our past life, so why can’t we show up for our current embodiment as if we were the true loves of our life? This life is a mirror and what you see in its reflection is pure love, pure hate, and everything in between.
Temperance
The Liminal space between death and relief.
duality—devotion—alchemy—gnosis—blending
There is alchemy within Temperance. A perfect combination of elements in pure, sober magic in a way that creates something new and even more valuable than its separate parts. A fleeting moment of calm and grace that you wish would last forever. What if it could last forever? When you feel Temperance in a physical place, capture it’s photograph. When you feel Temperance in an internal place, record it on paper. Though these experiences are now just memories of a weightless, euphoric connection with the cosmic energy that manifests everything on this Earth, there are records of the transient energy that is constantly flowing in this plane. There is more than one experience in this current embodiment—so, How can you alchemize existence? What about a place? How can we reimagine objects? Do places and objects die? Or are they in a constant state of liminality? And what about us, is it the same for us? Welcome to the liminal space.
The Fool
The moment where you’re scared, but you do it anyway—because the wind in your wings is stronger than the lead in your shoes.
journeyer—impulse—inner child—blind faith—freedom
The Fool is an embodiment of curiosity and the thirst for experience. Devoid of an inner critic, The Fool fearlessly approaches any situation with an infinite scope. The Fool represents a risk, one that’s worth taking, and is the initiation of a journey full of opportunity. Historically representing madness due to the energy of defiance of logic and reason, The Fool gets a bad rap for being impulsive, but one can’t help admire the wonder of pure spontaneity. What parts of us get hung up on the voices in our head telling us something isn’t worth doing? Or on a personal level, that we aren’t worth it...How can we continue to ignite a childlike curiosity for life and experiences without constantly debating what may or may not be a good idea? Why don’t we just try it out and see what happens?! What’s the need for a map if you’re unsure of the destination? The journey is the experience and the magic happens each step of the way.
The World
The receipt from completing a cycle.
The feeling of ultimate relief and rejuvenation.
Trust of self and this journey.
arrival—belonging—womb—encompassing—restoration
This feeling can’t last forever, but it sure is bittersweet. The World energy is extremely fleeting—much like a perfect alignment of the stars or planets. So much has happened for this moment to manifest. Time, expansion, contraction, victories, triumphs, failure, and humility have all conjured this revolution. The joyous reminders that curses can be broken and spells can be reversed is in the arrival of The World. Each of us has survived 100% of our painful moments in this life and this same moment will never happen again. There are thousands of possibilities in this life and yours has unfolded in this magnificently intricate way thus far. Allow this profound moment to inspire your next revolution. Understand that with new levels of growth come new devils, but trust that The World is delicately guiding you through everything you’re meant to be traversing.
(GRADUATE SHOW)
"CRISIS IN CARE"
VERMONT COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS
KALYA LEACH
Kay Leach is a visual artist who claims magick as a medium.
Through art as everyday magic and ritual, she creates feminist narratives by documenting and performing in her femme queer body. Kay’s artistic practice navigates her trauma inflicted through societal assumptions, expectations, and exploitation of the female body, mind, and soul. Using shame as a catalyst for transformation, Kay has reclaimed her sources of trauma through ritual performance and reimagining the ancient art of Tarot. Kay’s goal as an artist is to generate power in the mind, body, and spirit by creating rituals and tools to conjure that power within herself and her audience.
For her graduate exhibition, Kay has decided to highlight six of the seventy-eight tarot cards of The Lucid Dreams Tarot. Though, all 78 tarot images are not a part of the exhibition, the ones that are hold high significance to her and the cohort. In the language of the tarot, Kay contextualizes the artwork present in this virtual space within the realm of spirituality and magick by choosing a card from the tarot deck she created to pair with the work of the artists in this exhibition. She invites you to discern which energies correlate with each member of this exhibition through these six works and the intuitive writings that correspond.
COHORT TAROT
Justice
The melding of emotional intelligence and critical thought. All is just.
integrity—perfection—self-examination—conscience—values
Justice is the elder sibling of Strength. Justice represents an ability to keep softness and grace in our hearts while sharpening the blade of our mind to protect that softening. Exploring the balancing act of good vs. evil can leave our hearts sore with how much unbalance there is in our society. The realization that there is no true justice, fairness, or equity makes us want to rip our hair out, but instead of averting our eyes or hiding away in a dreamland of beauty—Justice directs our moral compass past superficiality. Justice allows for awareness and acceptance for the happenings of this human experience that are out of our individual control. We can be aware of the horrors of humanity, but we cannot allow them to destroy our desire for safety and security. Remember that fear will never be stronger than love.
The Devil
The catastrophe of the mirror held up to ourselves and the reflection of our delusions staring back at us.
suffering—insidious—deep-rooted—oppression—karmic
The Devil represents all that holds us back in life. Our shackles are welded from our genetic roots, our soul’s path of cyclical lessons, and our ability—or inability to transcend the script we were given at birth. Looking at ourselves in the mirror and seeing all of the lines on our face, mimicking ringlets of water after the disruption of a thrown stone or gentle finger—they ripple just the same. They ripple like the consequences of our actions and choices throughout this life, they are a weathered memory of crossroads between life and death, strength and fragility, and war and peace. There is a saying that our face is the image of the one we loved most in our past life, so why can’t we show up for our current embodiment as if we were the true loves of our life? This life is a mirror and what you see in its reflection is pure love, pure hate, and everything in between.
Temperance
The Liminal space between death and relief.
duality—devotion—alchemy—gnosis—blending
There is alchemy within Temperance. A perfect combination of elements in pure, sober magic in a way that creates something new and even more valuable than its separate parts. A fleeting moment of calm and grace that you wish would last forever. What if it could last forever? When you feel Temperance in a physical place, capture it’s photograph. When you feel Temperance in an internal place, record it on paper. Though these experiences are now just memories of a weightless, euphoric connection with the cosmic energy that manifests everything on this Earth, there are records of the transient energy that is constantly flowing in this plane. There is more than one experience in this current embodiment—so, How can you alchemize existence? What about a place? How can we reimagine objects? Do places and objects die? Or are they in a constant state of liminality? And what about us, is it the same for us? Welcome to the liminal space.
The Fool
The moment where you’re scared, but you do it anyway—because the wind in your wings is stronger than the lead in your shoes.
journeyer—impulse—inner child—blind faith—freedom
The Fool is an embodiment of curiosity and the thirst for experience. Devoid of an inner critic, The Fool fearlessly approaches any situation with an infinite scope. The Fool represents a risk, one that’s worth taking, and is the initiation of a journey full of opportunity. Historically representing madness due to the energy of defiance of logic and reason, The Fool gets a bad rap for being impulsive, but one can’t help admire the wonder of pure spontaneity. What parts of us get hung up on the voices in our head telling us something isn’t worth doing? Or on a personal level, that we aren’t worth it...How can we continue to ignite a childlike curiosity for life and experiences without constantly debating what may or may not be a good idea? Why don’t we just try it out and see what happens?! What’s the need for a map if you’re unsure of the destination? The journey is the experience and the magic happens each step of the way.
The World
The receipt from completing a cycle.
The feeling of ultimate relief and rejuvenation.
Trust of self and this journey.
arrival—belonging—womb—encompassing—restoration
This feeling can’t last forever, but it sure is bittersweet. The World energy is extremely fleeting—much like a perfect alignment of the stars or planets. So much has happened for this moment to manifest. Time, expansion, contraction, victories, triumphs, failure, and humility have all conjured this revolution. The joyous reminders that curses can be broken and spells can be reversed is in the arrival of The World. Each of us has survived 100% of our painful moments in this life and this same moment will never happen again. There are thousands of possibilities in this life and yours has unfolded in this magnificently intricate way thus far. Allow this profound moment to inspire your next revolution. Understand that with new levels of growth come new devils, but trust that The World is delicately guiding you through everything you’re meant to be traversing.