Thicker Than Water

Hannah Spronz

Thicker Than Water is a tarot deck, based on a story I developed with a group of close friends, over the course of two years. 

The story and the resulting art represent a deeply personal collection of works, which follow the (un)lives of a group of vampires navigating both the supernatural and the mundane. The title is a reference to the saying “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” reflecting the story’s emphasis on the importance of chosen family, while playing off of the blood sucking nature of vampires. 

Throughout the cards, I occasionally reference imagery from the classic Rider Waite tarot deck, as well as the works of artists Alphonse Mucha and Gustav Klimt.

I spend a lot of time creating stories I never share; I wanted to do a series of works that finally brought one of them out into the world. While the majority of the pieces are digital, I have also included a number of block and screen prints, because I find a great deal of joy in the process of printmaking. The heavy stylization and symbolic nature of tarot cards felt like a fitting and powerful way to share my passion for both the story and the mediums I’ve employed.