A mythology for North Philly appears on construction fencing

Most companies, when they want to determine their bedrock fundamental philosophy, form a committee to craft a mission statement.

The Village of Arts and Humanities is not like most organizations. The arts program that has been based in North Philadelphia for more than 30 years, instead invented an Afrofuturist mythology.

“We use art here at The Village,” said managing director Jeanette Lloyd.

The “Futures Oracle” is a set of mythological archetypes and symbols that can be used like a tarot card deck, with 13 figures like The Guardian, The Healer, The Scribe, and The Rebel. Coupled with symbols like Love and Grit, Black Joy, and Spiral of Life, the concepts can be mixed and matched to remember stories from the past and map future aspirations for the neighborhood.

Right now, each element of “Futures Oracle,” designed by 14 artists, is painted as a large-scale playing card on plywood construction fencing wrapping a vacant lot next to the Village’s headquarters at 2544 Germantown Avenue, where a new gallery space will soon be built.

It also includes a soundtrack. The Village asked three local musicians — Luna Jung, John Morrison, and Magz FM — to create tracks for a “soundbath,” lending a sonic vibe to the project. The onsite signage has QR codes that drive users to the Soundcloud pages, which are also accessible through the website.

Later this summer, the Village plans to print the images as tarot decks that can be used by anyone who fancies themselves a seer.

“The idea is that, just like how an Oracle deck works, every time a card is pulled it means something different for each individual,” said Li Sumpter, a writer and artist who curated the Futures Oracle. “We’re hoping folks will be inspired by the stories that are being told about this community through these images.”

Sumpter gathered the concepts for the archetypes and symbols after talking with community members about the impact The Village has had on the neighborhood. Commonalities emerged in those discussions.

“People were sharing their own anecdotes and stories about what they remember about this community,” Sumpter said. “Certain characters started to repeat. There started to be recurring symbols and ideas. What I do as a mythologist is, I understand how all these things work together to create a cohesive story.”

The Oracle was developed to inform how the forthcoming Futures Gallery will be used.

For decades, The Village has been generating creative projects, often in its adjacent garden space, but has never had a place to put those projects once they come down. As a result, Lloyd said artwork is often destroyed for lack of an archive in which to put it.

She said the Futures Gallery will be designed to store art, exhibit art, and serve as a community gathering space.

“The gallery is meant to provide a space for Black artists in the neighborhood to showcase in a beautiful space, without the typical art gallery requirements or the nepotism that happens in the art scene,” Lloyd said. “We’re able to provide an open space for community residents to showcase their artwork, their histories, their stories. But we wanted to make sure that we talk to them first and understand exactly what they were looking for in this space.”

Community participants told Lloyd they wanted the new gallery to have windows, so people who might be intimidated by an art gallery could see what’s happening inside. That it should be staffed by both a younger person and an older person, to bridge generations. They wanted a permanent altar space to honor ancestors and predecessors.

With oracle figures like The Designer, The Elder, The Youth, The Scribe, Lloyd said she can keep The Village on the same page as the community members it serves.

“We’re able to look at this deck and remind ourselves over and over again: Are we fulfilling the requests of the community and the folks that we spoke to, or are we just doing what we want to do?” she said. “This is going to make sure we take a step back and move with intentionality.”

Although the Futures Oracle is initially tied to a construction project, Sumpter believes in the mystery of the tarot deck, that it has surprises applicable to other intentions by other organizations.

“This is about imagining the future and dreaming,” she said. “It’s important to have a creative space to not just come together, but also dream. We don’t put enough emphasis on the power of dreaming.”