In the summer of 2025 I was Artist-in-Residence at Sacred Grounds in Lily Dale, New York, a town that was central to the development of the 19th century Spiritualist movement and that still has the highest concentration of working spirit mediums in the US. A book I bought in the town on previous visits while attending Shannon Taggart’s annual symposium forms the basis of the work.
Madam Le Marchand’s Fortune Teller, first published in 1863, offers a system for interpreting dice throws via a list of corresponding predictions. The book’s intended audience is women, particularly those seeking guidance on their personal relationships. The process is simple: form a clear question while throwing the dice like “Will I find true love?” and advice is delivered in poetically brief single statements that match the numbers rolled. A five and two sixes yields “Unfortunately, you will never be so”; three threes, “Something that does not really exist.”
After making pigment prints of page spreads from the book, I assembled and divided images from found material and original photographs into piles that corresponded with the die numbers. I then used dice throws to determine the selection of words and images for individual compositions. The resulting series of analog collages are divinatory visual messages that join archival past with lived present. And, by chance or some other force, they draw attention to the subtly feminist and liberatory messaging that the book, like much occult material, offers.