IN SHORT:
UPRIGHT:Energy & impulsive passions. Inspired action. Being in the right place at the right time.
REVERSED: Hasty & scattered energy. Delays, frustration. Side-Hustle & Passion projects.
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IN DEPTH:
Our Knight of Wands stands proudly atop the roof of Hotel Colón, when she wears an army uniform and her hair whips about in the morning winds. She and carries the red and black flag of the CNT signaling her energy and enthusiasm for this next horizon in the armed fight against fascism in Spain. On this morning, on this rooftop, in this city, victory feels very near. So close you can taste it. She is not necessarily a solider, but in this instance she stands proud, poised and ready for whatever battles follow.
This Knight of Wands depicts Marina Ginestà the young woman seen in a famed photograph was taken by Juan Guttman, on 21 July 1936. It shows the 17-year-old Ginestà a reporter embedded with communist and anarcho-syndicalist factions during the militant uprising in Barcelona. The picture was soon published in a socialist newspaper, and later exploded in popularity due to a resurgence of interest in the Spanish Civil War and anti-fascist militancy. Marina stated about the picture: “It’s a good photo. It reflects the feeling we had at that moment. Socialism had arrived, the hotel guests had left. There was euphoria. We retired in Columbus, we ate well, as if bourgeois life belonged to us and we would have changed category quickly.”
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“Young folks today can’t imagine what that was like. People have the impression that we cared about nothing but politics. That was partly true, but the truth was that we lived in something of a double culture. On the one hand, we were fascinated by the Soviet Union, which after all had had a real revolution. We believed in the possibilities of a new society, a new man, a new relationship between the rich and poor, more social justice….(sic). But on the other hand, we were young and lived in Barcelona, then a relatively modern city. We were obsessed with Hollywood and the new world of cinema. We loved Greta Garbo and Jean Harlow. Personally, I was completely smitten with Gary Cooper. We saw all the westerns that came through. Those movie stars were heroes of ours as much as Lenin and Stalin were. So you could say we lived in two illusion-filled worlds: movies and politics.”
-Marina Ginesta
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