Two Of Wands (Future) and its companion, Two Of Wands (Facing), are inspired by the Two of Wands Tarot card. Traditionally, the card depicts a figure gazing across a landscape, contemplating future choices and opportunities. It represents the act of surveying possibilities, weighing potential paths forward, and imagining what might come next. As a suit, Wands are associated with action and energy—qualities the artist intentionally emphasizes, underscoring the idea that planning for the future lays the groundwork for acting with intention.
Fake began working on these prints in the period leading up to the 2024 U.S. election, a moment that foreshadowed—and ultimately resulted in—the renewed embrace of transphobic rhetoric and policy by the Trump administration. Against this backdrop, the core meaning of the Two of Wands—that even within fraught circumstances there remains space to envision a way forward—came into sharper focus through the making of the work.
While the traditional Tarot card presents two wands as a single dyad, Fake chose to separate them into a pair of prints, assigning each a distinct orientation. Facing represents confrontation with history and the present: an examination of how the current moment has been shaped. Future looks toward what is needed and desired, and toward determining how to move in that direction.
In Two Of Wands (Facing), the wand is topped by a large box that serves as a vessel for history, incorporating candles as markers of memory and a keyhole suggesting doorways already chosen. In contrast, Two Of Wands (Future) embodies unformed potential; its wand carries fewer symbolic markers, remaining open and indeterminate.
Two Of Wands (Facing) and Two Of Wands (Future) were acquired by the Pierpont Morgan Library for its permanent collection in 2025.
