Art Center hosts photographer

The Waseca Art Center hosted photographer James Taylor at a reception for the closing of his art gallery Friday, March 17 for his project, the Semaj Roytal Tarot.

Taylor, of Mankato, started taking pictures twelve years ago at sixteen and says he got his start because his father, now retired, was a professor of photography at the time. In the beginning, he didn't want to do photography, he explained, but when he tried portraitry he was “hooked.” Taylor explained that he finds something special in the uniqueness of faces that he really enjoys. He eventually attended Utah State University for photography, graduating in 2021.

Taylor is also a self-taught photo editor, doing all of his own editing. He says he's learned from YouTube videos and online workshops, and he now has a full-time job as a photo editor for fun.com in Mankato in addition to his art.

Taylor says he's always been interested in spirituality and that he first tried out Tarot in 2020. It became a guiding tool for him during what was a difficult year for so many. “Tarot work is just energy work,” he explained. “It's not as intense and dark as it's shown in TV and movies,” Taylor said, going on to explain that, like life, what you get out of Tarot is directly the result of what you put into it.

When Taylor started the Semaj Roytal Tarot project, he said it was to find a creative outlet after his graduation from USU. He added that he knew it would be a huge project and says he didn't entirely expect to ever finish it. A tarot deck is 78 cards, each of which had to be designed individually, then shot and edited. Initially, he started the project with the 22 cards that make up the “major arcana,” or the cards which represent archetypes and do not belong to one of the four suits. Once he'd finished the major arcana, which took a number of years, Taylor says he wanted to fill out the deck with simpler cards for the minor arcana. When asked about his favorite aspect of the project, he says “In a silly way, it's the fact that I did it.” Another thing Taylor says he enjoys is that the cards exist in decks that can be used, which provides some tangibility for him.

The photos for the Semaj Roytal Tarot were all shot on location. The first few were done in Utah before Taylor moved back to Mankato in the spring of 2021, but most were shot locally between 2021 and the present. Taylor used his friends as models, but also people he found on social media or through USU's arts department where he took the portraits. He also says he will ask anyone, anywhere, to model for his projects if he feels the need, and has no fear of rejection. “The worst they can say is no,” he said lightly. He says much of his inspiration comes from other artists whose work he enjoys and from music. An example is his card for “the Lovers,” who are posed together in a garden with their eyes blurred. The blurred eyes are meant to represent the adage “love is blind” and the fact that the lovers card in a tarot reading does not necessarily indicate finding true love; the composition of the card was inspired by a piece by painter Norman Rockwell.