RÊVERIE

Artist Roz LeCompte Paints the Game of Hope

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Playing Roz LeCompte’s “le petit jeu,” her Louisiana-inspired “Rêverie” oracle deck, one might select the “bouquet” card, upon which she paints a vivid marriage of gardenia and camellia. The “maison” card depicts her own cypress cabin against an abstract backdrop and a flush of azaleas; the “fouet” a photograph of her son dressed as a vilain for Faquetaique Mardi Gras.

Composed with a mixed media approach merging pieces of LeCompte’s paintings and accumulated photographs in a whimsical display, the “Rêverie” deck is based on a centuries-old deck called the “Game of Hope.”

With its popularity often ascribed to renowned late-eighteenth-century Parisian cartomancer Marie-Anne Adelaide Lenormand (also known as Madame Lenormand), the ancient oracle card game features thirty-six cards illustrated with various symbols, such as the rider, tree, tower, child, and scythe. Each card is infused with meaning drawn from those symbols: the “stars” card represents hope, the “coffin” card refers to loss.

The deck acts as a divination tool. Traditionally, a player dwells on a question or intention, then selects two cards. The first card acts as the main subject, while the second card modifies the first, ostensibly providing the player with insight into the situation. The relationships between the cards result in new meanings to be interpreted by the player each pull.

“They always seem to mimic whatever is going on inside you,” she said of the cards. “Sometimes there’s no answers, per se … sometimes it’s just a confirmation of what you’re already feeling.”

LeCompte’s version plays on the unique, lushly lurid setting of South Louisiana, drawing on both the mysterious and the mundane to reflect her lived experience in a land and community in which she has not always felt she belonged. Her cards tell a quiet love story, exploring LeCompte’s unironic tenderness for her homeland—a besotted admiration of the marshes, the wildlife, and the rich, earthy history of the place.

“The synchronicities are abundant,” she said. “It is reassuring. It feels good when whatever is going on inside is mirrored on the outside as well. It feels like a feather in your path. You’re going in the right direction.”

“As I was growing up, I couldn’t wait to leave here, and my mother was like, ‘I don’t think it’s this place. I think it’s you.’ Wherever you go, there you are,” LeCompte said. “It’s so true. There’s beauty everywhere, but everyone’s born where they are for a reason.”

Occasionally, the cards gesture—with a knowing wink—to the incongruities and the absurd facts of Louisiana life. There is the “mice” card depicting a possum, which LeCompte refers to as, at its heart, “a huge rat.” There are no mountains here, so LeCompte uses a photograph of the levee for that iteration of Lenormand’s card.

The “Rêverie” deck emerged from turbulent grief—the forced transformation after LeCompte’s marriage of eleven years came to an end. In the thick of it late last year, she found herself asking if she should quit art, pick up a secure day job, and “be miserable” for the rest of her life..

Contemplating this question, she drew two cards from the oracle deck of another South Louisiana artist, J.F. Guidry—the “moon” and the “key.” The moon symbolizes intuition, creativity, the subconscious, and dreams; the key, unlocking, fate, discovery, resolution. She soon purchased her own deck and drew the same two cards, in the reverse order. LeCompte interpreted the message as: “Your subconscious is the key.” She stuck with art.

Within months, LeCompte executed a major project, an immersive installation called Femme Unmuted created in collaboration with musician/poet/healer Andrea Villien through Basin Arts’ Projectspace Residency program. The project featured interactive sculpture-making, poetry, dance, and a gallery of visual artwork, exploring the act of empowering women to reclaim their voices.

Then, in September, LeCompte is showcasing a solo exhibition, RÊVERIE, at the Acadiana Center for the Arts (which will be on exhibit through October 26). Composed of thirty-one original artworks—including mixed media paintings, objects, and sculpture—the exhibition delves into the nuances of Southern identity in surprising and multi-faceted ways.

LeCompte, a self-proclaimed ex-Catholic, has found her new ritual, and in it, a conversion of sorts.

“The synchronicities are abundant,” she said. “It is reassuring. It feels good when whatever is going on inside is mirrored on the outside as well. It feels like a feather in your path. You’re going in the right direction.”

In between her spiritually exhilarating career highs, LeCompte worked on her oracle deck. The past year has been a time of mourning; besides the dissolution of her marriage, one of her best friends, musician Dege Legg, passed away in March. In addition to his prolific musical career, Legg had painted roughly 200 pieces to accompany a new album that was released posthumously.

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LeCompte created a tribute for Legg at the ACA’s Reaux Family Vault exhibition space, with all of his music, artwork and legacy on display through April and May. In her fresh grief, surrounded by the memories of her friend, she spent hours each day creating the cards. She thinks, perhaps, the echo of Legg’s presence infused the cards “with some special ju-ju.”

The “Rêverie” deck was released this summer, with a daily journal to accompany it coming in 2025. Amid the steady throb of loss and metamorphosis in different spheres of her life, LeCompte has realized the transcendent power of symbolism that emerges in those cards—and in her art.

“It’s a comforting thing for humans, whether we realize it or not. To see ourselves reflected in our world, and to find a deeper meaning,” she mused. And she, herself, is not immune to the pull of that mirror; LeCompte finds herself relentlessly compelled to recreate some symbols over and over again, such as the snake—though she doesn’t know precisely why. It’s one of her most striking cards in the deck: a sinuous, twisting serpent rendered against a backdrop of overlapping, eerie spirals.

LeCompte finds what has often been branded a Biblical symbol of evil to be instead beautiful and ancient, often so full of color and life she can’t help but paint it. To her, snakes are as majestic as butterflies.

“Which is what is happening to me right now, completely transforming” LeCompte said. “I think people should just keep going, even when it’s scary, and you can’t see the future, and it’s unnerving. There can be joy and exhilaration in that, if you surrender to the process.” •

Roz LeCompte: RÊVERIE will be on exhibition at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette through October 26, 2024. See more of her work, and her RÊVERIE Oracle Deck at rozlecompte.com.