Becoming the Forest Issue 2

Treading the arboreal pathway through the backwoods of black metal;

Becoming the Forest is a publication which looks at our relationship to our surroundings, with a specific focus on the Northern hemisphere’s abundance of dense spruce forests, and how the aesthetic and philosophy of the musical subculture of black metal has become entangled with this topography, countering the anthropocentric interpretation of the world.

Becoming the Forest is a wider and ongoing arts project by artist Una Hamilton Helle, of which this publication is the latest instalment.

The publication includes specially commissioned essays, stories, interviews and illustrations and brings together multiple international voices from the science, literature, arts and musical realms. This includes contributions about the molecular memory of spruce trees, musings on the animistic worldview, an introduction to folkloric painter Theodor Kittelsen and interviews with black metal-inspired bands. The issue touches upon the eco-dystopian, the gated thresholds to our imagination, oil-soaked social commentary and celebrates both the mystery and mundanity of nature.

Contributors are: Alkerdeel, Ashtoreth, Botanist, Lotte Brown, Camilla Christensen, Audrey Ewell, Fen, Carl Gunnar Fossdal, Una Hamilton Helle, Hexvessel, Ibrahim Ineke, Amelia Ishmael, Sarah Jury, Theodor Kittelsen, Mork, Occvlta, Sebastian Rusten and Andrew Walter.

Edited by Una Hamilton Helle and Lotte Brown.

Published by Het Bos Antwerpen.
Supported by the Norwegian Arts Council.

Designed by Gerard Leysen.
120 pages, 210x135mm, black and white.

Includes a pull out colour insert of Theodor Kittelsen’s "Pesta farer landet rundt" and "Det steg saa tungt at Jorden skalv".

ISBN 9789 090303468

Contact details: unahamiltonhelle@gmail.com