The Dirty Deck™
The Dirty Deck began as an exploration of four symbols so familiar they are often overlooked. Playing cards move effortlessly through cultures and generations. They are shared objects. Handed down, shuffled, worn. Touched more than they are considered.
This work slows that process down.
Through anatomy, hierarchy, and desire, the imagery reveals what these symbols have always carried. Power. Submission. Judgment. Control. Not newly introduced, but newly visible.
At its core, the work sits within a familiar tension.
Dirty and discreet.
Pride and shame.
Visibility and restraint.
From this exploration emerged a fully illustrated 54-card playing deck with custom packaging. By transforming the artwork into a playable object, The Dirty Deck invites players to physically hold the characters and symbols that have quietly shaped the games we are all accustomed to playing.
It asks where we place ourselves within these tensions, and when we can stand authentically honest in our desires versus what we’re expected to conceal.
This work explores erotic themes and is intended for mature audiences.
The Dirty Suits
Designed in 14th-century France, the four suits: clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades were created as a discrete system of symbols. Simple, recognizable, and enduring, they remain embedded across cultures worldwide.
Over time, these four icons have lived in quiet infamy. Familiar. Ubiquitous. Carefully discreet. Perhaps too discreet.
The Dirty Suits pull back the veil on these familiar symbols. Re-imagined through anatomy, they reveal a shared, physical truth that connects us all.
The Dirty Royals
Rooted in medieval Europe, the royal court of playing cards was created to reflect hierarchy, loyalty, and control. The King, Queen, and Jack became instantly recognizable symbols of power and service, their authority implied and their desires left unspoken.
The Dirty Royals reinterpret this familiar power structure through a modern lens. They could have existed in the past, yet feel unmistakably present, revealing what royalty has always been performing and protecting. The hierarchy remains, but tension now binds them together.
Through their connection, the polished facade slips away, exposing the private self beneath the crown and the role. The Dirty Royals uncover what the court works hardest to hide: desire, control, and the sexual identity behind the public symbol.
and the Joker…the most mysterious of all. Read more about her and all the specific characters below.
The King
The King stands as the dominant force of the court. He is depicted as a leather daddy, wearing a harness and a leather cap crowned with authority. His posture is stern, his presence unyielding. Power is not negotiated. It is held.
In this contemporary rendering, the King is darker skinned, an intentional confrontation with the historical reality of power being systematically reserved for white bodies. This depiction does not rewrite tradition. It exposes what authority has long concealed.
Here, power is made physical. Desire is no longer discreet.
The Queen
The Queen exists in a parallel world of control. She is depicted as a dominatrix, holding authority equal to the King’s, though expressed through restraint rather than force. Her power is deliberate, measured, and unwavering.
She wears a red hood with a crown concealed beneath it. Authority does not need constant display to be known. Her presence carries weight through intention, not volume. She does not borrow influence. She commands it.
The Queen reveals a truth long embedded within the court. Power has never belonged to one form alone. It has always adapted, endured, and ruled in silence.
The Jack
The Jack occupies the most unstable position in the court. Traditionally a servant, he is depicted here as a gimp, his face hidden, his mouth gagged. Silenced, yet central.
He exists between dirty and discreet. His power is not sovereign, but relational. It is shaped by service, humiliation, and proximity to authority. The gag functions as both restraint and signal. What is concealed is also displayed.
The Jack does not rule. He performs. His role is essential, uncomfortable, and revealing. A reminder that submission has always been part of the hierarchy, even when it was never named.
The Joker
The Joker exists outside the court while watching every move within it. Rendered as a Nun, she embodies the historical relationship between religion, power, and hierarchy. Her white face is stark and unblinking, a surface long used to project purity, discipline, and control.
She divides the red and black that dominate the deck, standing between desire and denial. Through judgment, religion has defined what is dirty, what must remain discreet, and who is permitted to hold power.
While the court performs what it desires, the Nun suppresses what mirrors it. She rules not through force or submission, but through moral authority and surveillance.
The Dirty Deck
The Dirty Deck™ is a fully illustrated 54-card playing deck with custom packaging, developed from this body of work and designed to be shuffled, held, and played.
Own the First Edition of the The Dirty Deck
English