Playing cards with my Grandmother
Alice created Playing Cards with my Grandmother to celebrate International Women's Day for the United Nations. Devised as a way of bringing together strangers: men, women, young, old and of all backgrounds, members of the public were invited into her magic art caravan where they could play a game of cards or have a tarot reading, thereby demonstrating that what we share is more powerful than what divides us. The caravan offered an intimate and enticing space to tempt in people who might not go to galleries. It toured Carnaby Street, Canary Wharf and Tate Modern Bankside, where it was seen by millions of Londoners. Offering a safe and inclusive space, visitors could escape the fray of their busy day for a short while and record their Grandmothers’ names and stories in The Book of Grandmothers.
Alice also designed a unique card deck as a surrogate Grandmother; each card inscribed with a life-affirming message that a wise grandmother might offer up to give her grand-children strength and guidance. A tiny card size book explained the meanings behind each card and how they drew on shared mythologies from around the globe, tapping into the commonalities that tie us together.
I played cards with my Grandmother all the time when I was growing up (she lived next door). It was about being together without the need for conversation but with space for it if we wanted. Games remind us of what we have in common, and the cards are an attempt to realise and recapture some of the essence of what my grandmothers offered through images and messages; advice, wisdom, experience, reassurance, love, patience, stoicism, continuity and comfort. The cards themselves were also therapeutic, the motifs magical, ambiguous, enigmatic.
– Alice Instone