Nottingham Contemporary

Outburst Oracle is a set of oracle cards produced in collaboration with Outburst, a youth group from Base 51, a charity in Nottingham that supports young people. These cards were produced in a series of workshops hosted by Gasleak Mountain, a Nottingham based artist-led gallery and community interest company. The cards were created through discussions around queer utopias, across a series of three workshops.

Oracle cards are a tool used for self-reflection, and each card comes with a description to help the user understand it. You can read the individual descriptions below:

THE FOUND encourages you to nurture, thinking about your community and being evergreen. You need to be aware and inviting to alternative family structures, surround yourself with an openness to a non-traditional family setup, especially involving the queer community.

GROWTH informs you that now is the time for persistence, endurance and performance. To keep going no matter who's watching.

IT'S TIME reminds you of the occasional need to be selfish; use self reflection to challenge false ideals and personal expectations. Breaking the mould leaves room for more spontaneous actions to occur.

LOVE TODAY foretells your future, and to live for the love you can experience today and have fun. You must not stop this from happening. Reflect on your past memories, and enjoy your future.

THE RAINY DAY reminds you to allow yourself to dream, giving yourself time and space to dissolve from your day to day life. Giving restrictions and boundaries in your life could give an opportunity for healing.

THE AIRPLANES advises you to begin soul searching, to look away from reality in search of something different to happen. To avoid misleading delusions, to encourage fantasies but to not be blindsided by shooting stars.

THE ANARCHIST is a hot trans* cat girl, she will lead along the path to a better ending. A future where gender is fake and people are genetically engineered. The red anarchist is the bad ending of the future, where tech giants make a hot Al to stalk us. Despite misconceptions, she's the most powerful creature ever made, just call her a girl boss.

THE BUTTERFLIES advises you to not lose hope, we are all an evolving journey. Do not be scared to allow yourself to flourish and evolve and be beautiful in everything you do. Your hopes and dreams are much closer than you think.

THE CACTUS is for forgiveness, we are able to survive through hardship and unsettling times. Through resilience, and a capacity to recover and care for one another, we will conquer any difficulties we face.

THE FLOWER offers you a lifeline and to be open towards being on an everchanging cycle. The biological function of a flower is to reproduce. The flower encourages you to pass on skills, knowledge and care to other people.

THE FLUORITE OCTET offers you a chance, with a new found confidence to tackle phobias head on. The Fluorite Octet does this by being the decider of justice and offering a chance for reflection and healing.

THE GECKO can lose its tail when threatened. Is there something that's holding you back, refusing to let you become something more than what you've been told to be? The Gecko encourages constant renewal and invites you to inspect the aspects of yourself that need to be made lost in order for something new to grow in its place.

THE HEREAFTER advises you to take control of your future, offering alternative vision and an aspiration for a clearer life. But you must avoid stress and false hopes to succeed in this quest.

THE MOUNTAINS are ready to lead you on a journey, and encourage you to take this risk. Remember, however, to be aware of unexpected circumstances or blockages along your path.

THE OCULARIST reminds you to assume that you're always being watched. But do not let ill-informed observations derail your aspirations. Having an honest vulnerability will allow space for vital opportunitess that will lead your future.

THE RAFT is often disconnected from reality, however this is not a bad thing. Having a more reserved and reflective response can be more positive and encouraging. The Raft has a lack of responsibility that is passed onto you, thrive off it.

THE UNHEARD PARTY call on you to explore an inner complicity and dive into the idea of becoming an interbeing. But do not let momentary success distract you from your goal. Through co-responsibility we will succeed.

THE WISH calls on you to feel or express a strong desire, in hope for something that could happen. The Wish encourages you to make your dreams a reality.

UTOPIA offers an ever changing potential, with a power to create which gives an inner power for opportunity and fulfilment. We are ascending towards Utopia, live for now and our potential within our future will follow.

WATTPAD predicts that an opportunity or idea will present itself to you. Be explorative and seize your creativity and imagination, be expressive and confident with your inner thoughts.

The culmination of the artworks created in these workshops was a display of the final oracle cards in the foyer area outside the cafe at Nottingham Contemporary, and we hosted a private view launch night in December for the young people from Outburst to come and see their works in situ. You can visit the display on the bottom floor of the building outside our café.

This project was generously supported by The Garfield Weston Foundation and The Foyle Foundation.