Asian American Tarot 2nd edition

This project reimagines the tarot by drawing on Asian American experiences and Asian American studies to reveal the hidden contours of our Asian American emotional, psychic, and spiritual lives, as well as the systems of violence that bear down upon them.

The first edition (2016) replaced the 22 archetypes of the traditional major arcana (e.g., the Empress, the Hierophant, the Wheel of Fortune, etc.) with figures drawn directly from Asian American life--The Migrant, The Foreigner, The Shopkeeper, The Adoptee, The Model Minority, The Desecrated Temple—and invited Asian American artists, writers, and scholars to reinterpret these figures to help us find new ways of making sense of our lives.

The second edition (2019) expanded upon the first, adding the new archetypes of The Ocean, The Village, The Crip, The Mongrel, The Emergency, The Student, and Suicide. The deck continues to grow as needed, with collectively created digital cards like The Pandemic (2021), The Impostor (forthcoming), and The Wounded (forthcoming). The Abyss (2024) accompanies Mimi Khúc’s book, dear elia: Letters from the Asian American Abyss. Read about the making of the deck in the book’s first chapter.

The deck is now available both in print and open access! Digitals now available at mimikhuc.com.

Writers

Ocean Vuong • Jason Oliver Chang • Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha • Jenne Hsien Patrick • Terisa Siagatonu • Shawna Yang Ryan • Long Bui • Sueyeun Juliette Lee • Rajiv Mohabir • Wo Chan • Maya Soetoro-Ng • Jennifer Ho • Konrad Ng • Tanwi Nandini Islam • Gerald Maa • Simi Kang • Brandon Som • Matthew Salesses • Mimi Khúc & Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis • Tanwi Nandini Islam • Aimee Nezhukumatathil • David Kyuman Kim • Mimi Thi Nguyen • Margaret Rhee • Anida Yoeu Ali • James Kyung-Jin Lee • Sharon Suh • students everywhere

Artists

Monica Ong • Monica Ramos • Simi Kang • Camille Chew • Matt Huynh • Nguyên Khôi Nguyễn