The portal between strength and the hanged man.

The strength card depicts a woman with a lion to represent mastery over the wild instinctual self. The Hanged Man is a reversal of vision. Offering a depiction of these archetypes outside the norm invites a new perspective grounded in embodied experience.

Photographs: Artemis

Brian Aikens Photographer

Erica Otto (concept, costume, & model)

Models: Carmen Chornell, Ciarra Saylor, Heidi Nielsen, Helen Beynon

Featuring Canine Valley Dogs

Strength as we imagine it today is often seen in a hyper- masculinized way. When women are depicted as strong they are often simultaneously objectified and sexualized. A woman’s strength, her resilience and grit comes from having experienced life and survived hardship. Female strength is in solidarity, community, and embodiment. Here the women do not subjugate their animal nature: they are in relationship with it, letting their instincts guide them to protect, to defend, to create. As a pack, working together, they are stronger for each member of the group.

Revealing women beyond the typical male gaze. Their softness becomes strength, their vulnerability a power. Suspended between tenderness and rawness, they claim space, embodying the sacred act of finding strength on their own terms.

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Wheel of fortune : Strength

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Hanged man : Death