black metal
Hidden Transcripts
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Hidden Transcripts utilize the black metal logos for Indigenous place names created for The Writing Lesson. This body of work is constructed using brown vinyl applied to the reverse side of a white tarp. Optically, the tarp becomes an obstacle to viewing the image.
The Writing Lesson
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The Writing Lesson makes reference to the visual typography of the heavy metal subgenre known as black metal in creating a vernacular mode of writing to illustrate place names in Western Canada and Washington with indigenous origins. Early iterations of black metal music created in Norway sought to resurrect aspects of indigenous pre-Christian spirituality that had been violently displaced in the Christianization of Scandinavia by acts such as the destruction of pagan temples. Through a rudimentary photographic process using a hand cut stencil, the light of the sun has burned the names of places such as Masset, Skidegate, Chilliwack, and Yakima onto black paper with the hope that more will be revealed than concealed.
Past Work
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My solo exhibition titled “For Whom The Bell Tolls” addressed the origins behind the folklore, church burning, murder and semiotics of Black Metal music as a means to explore binary opposition. Black Metal was originally a Norwegian youth revolt against the socially accepted merger of church and state. From its origins Black Metal has positioned itself against dominant (Christian) ideologies through sounds and images of resistance and rage. These youth felt Christianity had uprooted their traditional Nordic Pagan beliefs. Black metal as a subculture was an ideal starting point, as the social structure itself is an inversion of Christianity both ideologically and symbolically. The most recognizable symbol of this movement is the upside down cross.
