Sighs of Sirius is a long term site specific project at the Fitzroy Park allotments curated by Sasha Galitzine over the summer of 2016. I offered up my services as a tarot reader to all of the Fitzroy allotment holders as a way to connect with the natural space and the people who tend to it. Tarot is wonderful tool of self understanding, it allows you to visualise aspects of your life through archetypes, symbols and colours. It is a therapeutic process for myself as well as the person I read for, often revealing or confirming questions you are grappling with, making visible the unseen.
The Star card is the 17th ( XVII) in the major Arcanum it is the card of hope, of fertility showing a balance of all 4 elements surrounding a nude female pouring water from 2 vases. It is the first naked human in the Tarot showing ultimate freedom and connection with the earth. The large star in the centre is the Dog star or Sirius which is the brightest star in Earth’s night sky. The name "Sirius" is derived from the Ancient Greek Σείριος meaning "glowing" or "scorcher". The ancient Greeks observed that the appearance of Sirius heralded the hot and dry summer, and feared that it caused plants to wilt, men to weaken, and women to become aroused. Anyone suffering its effects was said to be astroboletos or "star-struck". It was described as "burning" or "flaming" in literature. The season following the star's heliacal rising came to be known as the Dog Days of summer.
Sighs of Sirius, closer to the veg, curated by GalitzineMackenzie, Fitzroy park Allotments, London, 2016