Have you ever used a tarot deck to predict your future? The tarot is a set of playing cards, with each card representing a different life lesson or milestone, often used for fortune-telling or as a tool for self-discovery. People have been using tarot cards for more than 500 years!
The tarot deck is a major inspiration for Hilma’s Ghost, a two-person art collective formed in 2020 by Sharmistha Ray and Dannielle Tegeder. Their mission is to honor the artist and mystic Hilma af Klint and to shine a light on artists who may have been traditionally excluded from the mainstream art community.
The duo created a tarot deck inspired by af Klint’s abstract, mystical paintings. Then in 2025, the collective translated the design into a public art installation. Abstract Futures, above, is a 600-foot three-part glass mosaic commissioned for a subway entrance at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Each part of the vibrantly colored mural features a card from the tarot deck. It also refers to af Klint’s art and her interest in the mystical.
Ray and Tegeder spent two years developing and designing the mosaic, then they handed the project over to mosaic master craftsman Stephen Miotto. The tiny glass pieces were fabricated in Italy and shipped to New York City, where Miotto and his four-person crew installed the mural over 10 days.