Becoming the Forest
Oslo
'Treading the arboreal pathway through the backwoods of black metal'
Becoming the Forest is an arts and music publication which looks at the relationship we have to our surroundings. It is part of a long running arts project by Úna Hamilton Helle which is inspired by how the Northern hemisphere’s dense spruce forests defined the aesthetic and philosophy of the musical subculture of black metal. Since its inception in the late 80’s, the genre has become entangled with this topography through its imagery, mythology and lyrics. Its focus on the natural world, heritage and atmosphere forms the starting point for an exploration in zine form that stretches beyond the musical genre, resulting in a project that wishes to both highlight and counter the anthropocentric interpretation of the world.
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Publications
Becoming the Forest IV (2022)
ISBN–9789082988024
BTF IV includes specially commissioned essays, interviews and illustrations, by animists, philosophers, artists and musicians, including: an essay on panpsychism as a possible answer to the climate crisis; a philosophical-historical overview of the relationship between black metal and the forest; a magical-realist account of a sylvan trip gone wrong; an in-depth interview with Rune from Nordic Animism, whose project looks to Scandinavian folklore and customs for “hidden animist knowledge” and more respectful ways of living with other subjectivities.
The symbolism of the primstav (a calendar staff used by the agricultural societies of old Scandinavia), runs through the issue. Its seasonally-based, cyclical view of time hints towards a worldview which was embedded in its environment, and which placed man as part of - and at the mercy of- nature, rather than above it.
Becoming the Forest III (2019)
ISBN–9789082988017
The third issue of Becoming the Forest includes specially commissioned essays, interviews and illustrations by historians, cultural critics, plant researchers, artists and black metal musicians. It’s pages include contributions about the birch tree as seen in Russian folklore and art history; a meeting of indigenous knowledge and the biological sciences when researching plant behaviour and sentience; the oak forest as a cultural projection screen in German nation building and the collaged results of a trip to a remote Norwegian cabin surrounded by the voices of our non-human neighbours.
The Celtic tree alphabet of Ogham runs through the issue, as do forest landscapes, magic sigils, spirit songs, tree mythology, lycanthropic end times and interviews with an international host of bands whose music is intricately linked to the places they exist within.
Becoming the Forest II (2017)
ISBN–9789090303468
Becoming the Forest II includes specially commissioned essays, interviews, illustration and photography and brings together multiple international voices from literature, the visual arts, science, art history and the musical realms. These include 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 that touch upon everything from eco-dystopian outlooks to the celebration of the mundanity of nature.
