Story Behind: One Draw at a Time
Shen is a New York–based woman artist and illustrator whose practice centers on tarot imagery, divination, and woman-centered storytelling through an occult lens. Working primarily with ink on paper, she creates delicate, hand-rendered illustrations with engraving-inspired precision and obsessive attention to line, ornament, and symbolic detail. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Melbourne, Shanghai, Beijing, and New York. Shen graduated from the School of Visual Arts (BFA Illustration), where her training continues to inform her meticulous craft-driven approach.
After graduating in 2024, Shen entered a quiet period of uncertainty—an in-between where ambition is real, but direction feels blurred. Tarot had long been part of her inner language, so one night she asked a simple question: should she finally commit to the deck she’d been imagining for years? The card she pulled was The Chariot (upright)—a decisive signal of willpower and forward motion. That moment became the beginning of Fire River Tarot, a project that unfolds one draw at a time: for each new work, Shen pulls a fresh card, and whatever appears becomes the next chapter. Built slowly from concept to hand-drawn ink and color, each piece often takes 1–2 months to complete. Through folktales, literature, and occult symbolism, Shen reimagines tarot as a woman-centered mythology—intimate, gothic, and precise, where beauty carries consequence, and every detail insists on meaning.
Shen is a New York–based woman artist and illustrator whose practice centers on tarot imagery, divination, and woman-centered storytelling through an occult lens. Working primarily with ink on paper, she creates delicate, hand-rendered illustrations with engraving-inspired precision and obsessive attention to line, ornament, and symbolic detail. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Melbourne, Shanghai, Beijing, and New York. Shen graduated from the School of Visual Arts (BFA Illustration), where her training continues to inform her meticulous craft-driven approach.
After graduating in 2024, Shen entered a quiet period of uncertainty—an in-between where ambition is real, but direction feels blurred. Tarot had long been part of her inner language, so one night she asked a simple question: should she finally commit to the deck she’d been imagining for years? The card she pulled was The Chariot (upright)—a decisive signal of willpower and forward motion. That moment became the beginning of Fire River Tarot, a project that unfolds one draw at a time: for each new work, Shen pulls a fresh card, and whatever appears becomes the next chapter. Built slowly from concept to hand-drawn ink and color, each piece often takes 1–2 months to complete. Through folktales, literature, and occult symbolism, Shen reimagines tarot as a woman-centered mythology—intimate, gothic, and precise, where beauty carries consequence, and every detail insists on meaning.
- CanvasRebel Magazine (2024)
- Al-Tiba9 Contemporary Art (2024)
- The Barbagelata Contemporary Art Foundation (2024)
- Match Factory Magazine (2024)
- FASHION ZOO. Volume 1 (2021)
- Graphics New Talent Award Competition (2025)
- AY25 FTGA Point Award/ TC Fellowship
- Society of Illustrators (2025)
- IJUNGLE Illustration (2024)
- Metropolitan Art Atelier (2024)
-
Annual School of Visual Arts Writing Program Contest- Second Prize
winner (2024)
- The 10th Hiii Illustration Competition (2023)
-
IPEDIA 2021 Project China's New Youth Creators (2021)
- Silas H. Rhodes Scholarships (2020 - 2024)
-
Lauriston Arts Association Acquisition Prize (2019)
- Nicky May Memorial Award for Art (2018)
- Spring Studio Works, Macy Art Gallery, New York, 2025
- Fall Studio Works, Macy Art Gallery, New York, 2024
- Marks Exhibition, A Space Gallery, New York, 2024
- September Primer, Macy Art Gallery, New York, 2024
- SVA Senior Show, SVA Chelsea Gallery, New York, 2024
- Pin-Up Exhibition, iidrr Gallery, New York, 2023
- XPeng POP-UP Exhibition, Shanghai, Beijing, 2021