Wanugee graduated from UC Berkeley with a business degree and spent the majority of his career in the tech sector. He is a savvy-businessman who saw an opportunity for a career change after his last employer downsized. He started out reading for big tech company parties and private events before embracing life as a full time psychic. He now has over 700 repeat clients, some of which return over 100 times.
Wanugee uses the original Chinese Mahjong tiles (144 tiles, versus the American version which uses 166 tiles) to predict seekers' fortunes. Tiles are placed in a circle, which tell the seeker information about their lives over the course of a year. The seeker can also ask three questions, which Wanugee will respond using the tiles as guides.
Alia spent many years as a teacher in Oakland. She was hard on her students, but she cared for them very much. After she retired, she began pursuing tarot readings from her home. It helps her reconnect with her mom, who also had the gift, and her family’s roots in New Orleans.
Alia’s mom read over a chalice of water. Her mother gave her cards but, “you don’t really choose your medium, it finds you,” Alia said. Her daughter has the gift in a very unique way. When people pass away, they visit her daughter in her dreams and tell her things. She tried to tell a family member what her deceased husband had told her in a dream, but it ended up causing a lot of problems, so she shies away from her gift now.
Above Psychic Vision, a billboard reads “Jesus offers PEACE, HOPE, REST!” At a closer look at the window below, a glowing “Tarot Card Open” sign displays several cross candles and a small Jesus statue. There is a small bullet hole in the very top center of the window, above the neon sign.
Psychic Vision is at the corner of Lakeshore Avenue and International Boulevard, a notoriously long road that connects Oakland to Hayward and San Leandro. The City of Oakland renamed the street in 1996 to help improve the reputation of the neighborhood and street, which experienced crime waves, drug dealing and prostitution.
Psychic Fate, located in Oakland’s Chinatown, has perhaps the most elaborate displays of neon signs encompassing an eight window corner storefront. After several attempts to call and visit the business, they expressed they had a bad experience after welcoming a photoshoot with models into their business. It brought them undesirable attention in which they experienced harassment and had windows broken around Halloween due to people thinking they were “witches.”
Fortune Tellers
In this modern-day world, fortune telling feels very old-world, mysterious and perhaps even magical. Yet their illuminating neon shines brightly throughout the city, even after a wave of pandemic-driven storefront closures and protests leave a majority of neighborhoods' ground floors boarded up and abandonded. Not dissimilar from traditional religious faith and prayer - we often seek advice during crossroads in our lives.
It is comforting to hear one’s roadmap or get an answer to a question plaguing one’s mind. Even if the prediction does not come to fruition, something, rather than nothingness, gives us hope or a starting point for contemplation and reflection.
These fortune tellers are rooted in a deep history of spirituality and the art of extracting fortunes, though often misunderstood. Some told stories of being harassed and vandalized, while others leaned into the aesthetics and mysterious lore fortune tellers seem to attract, even adapting to the virtual landscapes of today’s remote world.
We are drawn to fortune tellers - looking for answers. This body of work seeks to explore this desire to look into our futures and the people whose crafts help provide insight.