Butch Tarot Project
digital illustration
Butch Tarot Project is an exploration of butch identity through the illustration of tarot cards. While only several cards are currently represented, a whole deck is in progress. Butch people have been subject to stereotypes due to visibility and a lack of conformity. These stereotypes can come from other LGBT people too, and when queer masculinity is not being demonized it is being fetishized. Butch and other gender non-conforming people, myself included, are constantly the recipients of jokes and sexualization; I wanted to make something myself and other butch people could look at and see ourselves in rather than the expectations of others. Many cards in my deck are based on people I know, and who are also looking to be seen in art.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
Shiloh Elfman is an illustrator and poet from Northern Illinois. They have growing passions for animation, photography, and metalwork as well. Shiloh’s identities as queer, Jewish, trans, butch, and chronically ill; these are often present throughout their work.
PROFESSIONAL DIRECTION/CAREER ASPIRATION:
Freelance illustrator, concept artist, poet, metalworker/sculptor
WEB PRESENCE: