Tuesday 23 November 2021
“It is our right to be seen and heard. We belong, we exist.”
Trans people exist, have always existed, but how often have you seen a Trans subject represented in an art museum? How often have you seen the personal artefacts of a Trans person in a historical museum?
Trans people are so often seen as a problem to be debated and pondered, or they are seen as targets for violence and exclusion. Bigots are trying to minimize the presence of Trans people because in that way it will minimize the visibility of their bigotry and violence.
This is why the call from Trans people and their allies is so simplistic.
“I EXIST”
An art exhibition at The Coastguard Studios in Southsea didn’t just say this loudly, proudly and bravely as you would hope. Samo’s art and the testimonials of the portrait subjects not only showed the humanity of struggling to fit in the world, but also the grace one finds when a place in the world is found or created.
The art itself is delicate and meticulous. There is still the scrawled edge of Samo’s street art meets punk rock style, however, unlike paintings and illustrations I have seen previously, the style still leans into expressionism but the drawings are more informed by the subject, rather than the emotion of the artist. The abundant emotional content has not been lost, it has been shared between artist and subject. Instead of crossing lines that have built up the drawing, the lines are additional expression to the drawing. This may be because the subjects have developed into themselves already. This is metaphorical, not just an evolution of techniques. Many of the people who are the subject of the portraits have undergone surgery in order to exist as themselves. This is a difficult, slow, meticulous and expensive process. The change in line work pays its due to this. Reigning in a technique so common and a part of one’s signature style, this shows, I think, how important the story being told, and the subjects who are represented are. The art is not just about how well people are represented in portrait, the portraiture is of the highest quality, but that it is about the representation of Trans people in art.
Art has gone through many eras of violent erasure. Historical events and institutions such as the Third Reich, Chinese Cultural Revolution, The CCCP, The British Empire and the Colonial Expansion of Christendom and Islam have all brought with them casualties of culture and art. We now know that cultures who have suffered erasure, repression and revision would have been places where Trans people would have seen themselves represented in art and culture.
Classical era Greece has always had a strong presence and is considered to be the root of European art and culture, but where are the representations of Gods and Heroes who transitioned, metamorphosed or do not fit the binary definitions of gender?
Vikings are a popular and fashionable subject for portraiture and figurative art. Where are the representations of Trans Scandinavian raiders? They lived in a world with strongly defined gender roles, but they were lines that people crossed to live their true lives.
We will not know how much of this art once existed and has been erased. We will never know how many of our ancestors were violently erased people. The story of the oppressed is not the story that is preserved. This never means that it is not the story worth telling.
The Dark Ages were so awful that it takes some time to exhaust the list of why those days and years were known as the Dark Ages. One of the reasons for this name is that the light of polytheism, philosophy, reason and sexuality of classical era Greece and North Africa was snuffed out. The Christianization led many scientific instruments, poetry, plays, prose, statues, paintings and ultimately people to be put to the pyre. Once Christendom had found the frontiers of colonization, the concepts of gender and sexuality found at these frontiers were violently erased and repressed.
Religion was an unexpected feature of Samo’s art. I had only seen a few portraits which quoted religious icons in his work before. The subjects gaze to the distance in a state of grace as in iconography of saints. Other portraits stare right at you. Fierce, brave and open to you. The religious iconography is subtle, but present throughout the portraits. Some of the subjects have beautiful halos, others have additional limbs. The iconography does not come from a singular religious source.
The reasons Samo had for including this became clear when I began to read the testimonials. People talked about their transition as not only the reconciliation between body and spirit achieved through therapies and treatment, but also of the immense experience of becoming who you truly are later in life, or for who you are to not be accepted until later in life. It is not a coincidence that so many testimonials of people who found religion later in life, and were saved by it would use similar terminology. Arrivals, Rebirths and a state of grace discovered through hard and personal work. An Exodus from a repressive state. Freedom to be oneself and to find those who will accept us. The road to Damascus could just as easily be the road to who we are. One of the testimonials in particular revealed a visionary experience. While recovering and healing from severe injury, dreams were where the subject existed. Their vision was of who they needed to become. By the time the portrait was completed, it was who they were.
The reason for these tangential lessons in history and religion is simple. There is a lot of erasure of Trans people. Not just erasure of the people but of the representation of those people. Samo has spent two years completing these portraits, collecting these testimonials and constructing his book. This impressive feat has given voice and representation to many people, but as the powerful have been cruel to these people through history, there is still a lot of ground to gain. There is a lot of space that these people deserve to reclaim as their own. The spaces upon plinths, in frames and walls. They deserve to be the characters of stories, they have their own stories to tell and their own heroes and gods to imagine. Looking at the output of Trans culture globally, we could be on the precipice of a renaissance, a beautiful reclamation. Art is the vessel for emotions, beauty and harmony. Tools for life that Trans people have tempered as a matter of survival.
For art, books and more from Samo please visit https://mistersamo.bigcartel.com/
Monday 15 November 2021
No Mercy for the Obsolete.
Dungeonsynth is an idiosyncratic offshoot of black metal that is played on synthesizers and has an abundance of atmospherics which creates an immersive experience relating to fantastical, horror and medieval scenarios and narratives. Any assumptions you made based on the genre’s name are likely to be correct. It sounds like music made by people doomed to spend their time in a dungeon with a synthesizer.
The earliest dungeonsynth was created by Mortiis. A grumpy little goblin man. I don’t mean that in a derogatory sense. Mortiis really is a Goblin, he has pointy ears and a long nose and he is one of the strangest characters to emerge from the black metal scene.
Mortiis played bass in the band Emperor who were the first black metal band to add symphonic elements to their sound with keyboards and synthesizers, which gave their music an impressive icy texture. Mortiis claims he left the band because black metal had become suddenly boring to him. He recorded and self-released a cassette called The Song of a Long Forgotten Ghost. The music was not black metal. It was like a soundtrack to a fantasy video game played on a selection of synthesizers and drum machines. It maintained the oppressive and isolated atmosphere of black metal but it did not have the same impact. Poor Mortiis became the whipping boy of the black metal scene. Nobody who took the album seriously was willing to put their rep on the line and say they enjoyed it. Mortiis has since been very open about how this reaction of negativity sent him into a deep depression. He did continue to create music in this style on his own label named Dark Dungeon Music. These releases generated their own cult following.
Mortiis found musical success with his synth driven gothic industrial music, particularly the albums Smell of Rain and The Grudge. This was an era of Mortiis’ career that reintroduced rock elements as well as a powerful gothic atmosphere which is more accessible than the earlier Dark Dungeon Music releases. This wouldn’t be the only vindication for the work of Mortiis’, the Dungeonsynth revival is not one anyone could have predicted. I hope Mortiis feels a sense of pride in the rich array of artists who are in debt to his work which was not appreciated at the time.
Dungeonsynth is seeing an incredible revival. In the early 2010s atmospheric black metal had a surge in popularity. Factors that lead to this are likely to be from an increase in isolation and loneliness that were on the rise at the time. Global lockdowns during 2020 and 2021 have meant that more people have wanted something with this atmosphere. Additionally, more and more tabletop RPG groups are popping up all over the world and dungeonsynth is an excellent choice of music for immersion, which is a crucial part of the enjoyment of these games.
Mortiis wasn’t the only black metal musician to make the crossover to create dungeonsynth. Satyr Wongraven of the band Satyricon made an excellent album under the moniker Wongraven in 1995. The crossbow carrying, truck driving and ex YouTube ranter Varg Vikerness also created dungeonsynth music, however, staying true to his usual unpleasant, pretentious and boring nature, he wouldn’t call it something creative like Dark Dungeon Music. No, old Vargy considers his music to be ambient. As broad and unhelpful a musical genre moniker as Classical. Also one that puts his music artificially above Dark Dungeon Music when it comes to seeking respect.
I have covered the history of Mayhem and Burzum previously (To The Death!) so I won’t tell it again like an old joke here. The important factor is that Varg AKA Lord Grishnakh* went to prison for 21 years in prison, the maximum sentence in Norway for the crimes of arson, murder and most frightening, although also most often forgotten, stockpiling explosives for a terrorist attack on a church in full attendance. Norwegian prison is known for being the most comfortable, survivable and reforming prison system in the world. Lord Grishnakh was not allowed his electric guitars, bass and drum kit but as concession he was allowed a synthesizer. This most dungeon like situation conceivable in the 1990s did not bring about the most interesting dungeonsynth music. There are some interesting melodies amongst it but the music is more pompous than atmospheric. If I was being kind I would say it is the soundtrack to a defiant Viking, not allowing his enemies the satisfaction of seeing his remorse. However, I am not kind and Lord Grishnakh deserves no kindness. This ambient music has an emptiness to it. It repeats itself less than Mortiis’ compositions but it feels like it repeats itself more. Lord Grishnakh is a monotonous, old fashioned repetitive bore and this music paints a clear picture of the man.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some interesting parts amongst both his black metal and ambient music but here’s the thing. You don’t need it. You definitely don't need it from him.
Atmospheric Black Metal and Dungeonsynth no longer have to come from the miniscule Norwegian black metal scene. You don’t have to navigate between artists who have committed awful hate crimes or used their fame to spread ridiculous pseudoscience, fascism, hatred and national socialism. It never made sense that such an artistic scene of outsiders had such an outspoken element of authoritarian conservatism. Skinny weirdos in face paint would have ended on the pyres and in the graves of the third reich. The most referenced novel amongst the black metal and dungeonsynth scenes The Lord of the Rings was specifically sought and destroyed by the Nazi authorities. The antifascist intention of Tolkien may have been lost on his fanboys in this instance, but Hitler certainly knew how dangerous Tolkien’s literature was to his ideology.
Burzum was a part of my musical journey in my youth. I sought out outsider music. I thought his imprisonment was for murder and church burning only, which at the time appealed to me. Later, when I learned he was a national socialist I was appalled. What business does someone like that have making art? I knew I couldn’t be the only person who wanted an atmospheric black metal fix but who also wasn’t a total wanker. I discovered bands like Wolves in the Throne Room and the wider Cascadian scene. Music which was heavily inspired by nature and made by those with a respect for nature and no respect for authority. The feeling of discovering this music was not just a relief. It felt like a reconciliation at last between what black metal had made me feel and what I thought it meant. Liberation and empowerment of the individual. Connection with nature and the past. Respect to the narrative, atmospherics and heroism of high fantasy. Why would I ever need to compromise with Burzum again? It reminded me of another experience in my life when I learned a local bookseller was a nonce, I just went to different book shops, I didn’t miss out on my literature and he never saw me or my money again.
The artistic output of Lord Grishnakh is now obsolete. Despite those who are supportive or indifferent to his politics still giving him fanfare in deluded, sycophantic praise in the comments section of his YouTube videos. You may feel like you float, or that you are going into battle when you listen to his music but it takes more than his music to create those conditions and he is not the only artist who achieves this effect on listeners. You don’t have to get this musical kick from the world’s worst wizard impersonator. Black metal can now be easily navigated to avoid giving time or money to fascists thanks to Branca Studio and Antifascist Black Metal Network who have both created playlists and registers of artists who are proud to say they are not like the ugliest totems on the scene. It is a simple act but it is one that makes the scene safer and more creative. You can always still be a gatekeeper, just use better judgement when it comes to who gets access to the dungeon.
Hopefully Dungeonsynth will have a similar triage in the future, that way Old Tower and other fash posers in the scene can face the same strangulation of becoming obsolete to those who want more than sounds and gestures from their music.
Let their insincere screams for free speech echo through the corridors of dungeons, while the music of true outsiders and true creatives is celebrated in the hearth. Let us feel empathy for those who make music inspired by their pain, not savour the bitterness of those who want pain inflicted upon others for their mere existence.
If you really want it darker than dark then give your attention to those who succumbed to their pain. Secret Stairways committed suicide before his music found anything like the audience it has. Sacramosis’ music has become progressively darker as her chronic illness has begun to force her into hiatus. This is the TRVE CVLT. Not privileged bullies who are so afraid of anything different from them that they want to see it repressed and destroyed.
*Not the real Lord Grishnakh from Lord of The Rings who wanted to eat Pippin and Merry’s legs and ended up being squashed by Treebeard. To be crushed by an Ent would be something I would be entertained to witness or hear of happening to Varg Vikerness, so if anyone knows how to contact an Ent then please help that happen.
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