Rituals - wet plate collodion portraits of Bergen's Black Metal scene

From one side black metal is an extreme music subculture, on the other hand, wet plate collodion process is an extreme photography process. They literally both have "metal" content, and back in the history, from my perspective, both have common roots. In this statement, I'm focusing on the Victorian era during which photography was invented, and during which occultism and spiritual beliefs were popularized. (Frederic Scott Archer published the collodion process description "The Chemist" in 1851 and Éliphas Lévi's first treatise on magic appeared in 1854 under the title "Dogmede la Haute Magie" with very popular drowning of Baphomet) The title Rituals describes all parts in this body of work. The rituals of working with large format camera. The act of photo studio portraiture. Preparing the wet plate collodion chemistry, and practicing this photographic method itself. Last but not least, how rituals describe the transcendental core of the culture, and how the dark aesthetic of black metal itself provokes thoughts of rituals, or has been and is actually ritualistic in itself as a genre and art form. Bergen town is well known in the metal culture and, is symbolical for the black metal scene. Presenting a project dedicated to the black metal phenomena in Bergen Kunsthall after the anniversary of 30 years of emerging the genre is a manifest. The decision to work with old photography process in an intimate and respectful way of the classic studio portrait is an attempt to present the genre and what it signifies for me, not through the specific elements of that extreme culture, but directly focused on the persons who created the genre. Black metal beyond the corps paint, spikes, invert crosses and Norwegian landscapes, it's particular philosophy and way of resistant.