ONE

On the first edition of Amplifest – a still relatively new festival in my hometown, who will have the third edition this year – Justin Broadrick did a double stint headlining the first day of the festival with Jesu and then, the second day, as Godflesh.

While Jesu were playing I noticed a light, placed behind and above Justin, that, from time to time, was casting strong lightbeams on his head. As I was shooting right in front of him, the light came and I was able to get the shot I was envisioning. It always amuses me the fact the I shot Justin as Jesu with a halo!

TWO

After having to cancel all of their European shows on the spring of 2011, Yob ended up playing the promised portuguese gig in October of that same year.

Mike Scheidt has quite a great presence on stage and, just before this photo was taken, he had already outstretched his arms striking an epic pose but the shot didn’t end up to my liking. Then, mid song, he raises his arms above his head and goes all triumphant. Most of the time I just call this image “doooom!!!” and it ranks high on my favourites.


THREE

The show was announced very near the date it took place but, as soon as I found out, I did not want to lose the chance of seeing 16 live.

Cris Jerue is one of those tortured vocalists onstage and I like a lot this moment when I snapped the shot that looks like a pause for meditation just before he got back to punishing the mic again, and again. Adding to the atmosphere of “suspended moment” is the fact that I shot with a combination of flash and slow speed shutter, making it seem almost like a double-exposure (it is not!) where the better defined body parts seem to float.


FOUR

Bohren & der Club of Gore like to present their brand of “jazz doom” playing on completely darkened stages, with just the exception of the lights placed directly above each one of the members. This adds to the aura of nightclub and, trying to portray that, I made sure to catch their sax player, with his shape more guessed than actually seen.


FIVE

This one was taken during the third time I shot Russian Circles and it’s one of those situations where my favourite photo of the set was not taken during a song, but between.

Dave Turncrantz is one hell of a drummer and here, while his partners in crime were tuning their instruments, he started peeling loose skin from his fingers with his teeth. I just could not help but capture the moment!


SIX

Lobster are/were a portuguese band who, whenever they played, always decided to set up their stuff not on stage, but on the ground in the middle of the crowd.

I always like to try out new compositions and angles and, in this one, as I was tired of shooting them “in your face” due to the proximity, I decided to stand on top of a chair and shoot from above. As I put myself in position to do so, I noticed the writing on the pedalboard: “do not fear death”, and decided to make it the main focus of my photo with the guitar player becoming just a shadow.


SEVEN

When I found out that Throbbing Gristle were scheduled to play in my hometown in the November of 2010 I barely could believe it! I was finally going to be able to witness the industrial legends live…

As it turned out, just days before the show, Genesis P-Orridge decided to quit the band putting the rest of the tour in jeopardy. The three remaining members decided to go ahead and do the remaining of the tour performing under the moniker X-TG which, for everyone in the room, stood for “Ex-Throbbing Gristle”.

Among the many photos I took during the concert, this one I took of Peter Christopherson remains my favourite of the night. Something that gained a new importance to me when, just a few months after the show, “Sleazy” passed away which made this one of his last performances.

The post Seven Stories…Jorge Silva appeared first on CVLT Nation.

All photos: WILI – Media Makers, Casino Luxembourg, 2013

Lucid fairytale | The first part concentrates on grindcore and emphasises the political dimension of extreme metal. Having its source in the 1980s punk movement, grindcore bands treat above all political subjects such as anarchy or anti-capitalism, and are characterised by a discursive and aesthetic radicalism. Labelled as “noise not music”, grindcore is deliberately anti-musical, abrasive and uncomfortable, which is visually reflected by anti-aesthetic, aggressive and irritating characteristics. Artists such as Mark Titchner, Damien Deroubaix, Juan Pablo Macias, Nicholas Bullen or Gee Vaucher all deal with political themes, revealing and accusing the abject reality of our contemporary world.

Death is just the beginning | The second part is related to death-metal, which, similar to the “memento mori” and vanitas symbols in classical paintings, reminds one of death. Through morbid and violent lyrics as well as album covers depicting cranes and Bosch- or Bruegel-like metaphors of our fears, death-metal bands explore the death as the ultimate and inevitable end. Some of the participating artists, for example Matthew Barney, Steven Shearer or Gregory Cuquel, have chosen to incor- porate the “symbols” of this culture (instruments, styling, logos), while others – like Larry Carrol, Gregory Jacobsen or Maël Nozahic – have created more introspective works, violently exploring our fears and ambiguities through monstrous or
morbid figures and apocalyptic landscapes.

Dark matter landscape | The third part of the exhibition concentrates on black-metal, a genre that oscillates between extreme speed and more “ambient” parts. A dark and depressive mood is paired with a fascination for violence, crimes and the macabre. Assuming a nihilistic and pagan position, black-metal refers to both the Nordic gods and the incarnations of the evil. Particularly rich on a visual level, black-metal inspired numerous artists. Noteworthy are the typical black and white make-ups as well as the design of the covers illustrating corpses or Nordic landscapes. The landscape, also recalled by the song titles, adds a romantic and symbolist note to black-metal and is a recurring theme in this part of the exhibition, especially in the works of Torbjorn Rodland, Seldon Hunt and Theodor Kittelsen. Other artists such as Banks Violette, Elodie Lesourd or Harmony Korine refer directly to specific black-metal bands, their cover art and logos, or to the codes of this genre (make-up, Satanism, violence).

The post Altars of Madness
Grindcore – Death Metal – Black Metal Exhibition appeared first on CVLT Nation.

There’s a certain fascination in visiting cemeteries that you don’t encounter elsewhere. Morbidity, an unnatural peace, a sense of time stood still, of memories quietly turning to dust beneath your feet… the mood of a graveyard can be hard to describe. Perhaps it’s the closeness of architectural beauty to a very human sense of decay; maybe it’s that intangible quality in the air we call ‘atmosphere’. For whatever reason, cemeteries remain oddly-compelling places for exploration. Here are 8 of the best for doing just that:

Karaite Cemetery (Crimea)

Hidden in wooded Iosofatova Valley near the old Tartar capital of Bakhchysaray, the Karaite Cemetery is as spooky as they come. Beneath slender Oak trees, thousands of broken tombstones lie at mournful angles, covered in a near-indecipherable Hebrew script. The ground is uneven, the graves shrouded in moss and lichen and – on a quiet day – a disquieting silence seems to settle over everything, giving the place an other-worldly atmosphere. For the best part of a millennium, the Karaites brought their dead here; to a sacred grove known as ‘Balta Tuymez’, a place that still seems to tingle with magic. Standing there in the shadow of the plateau as the sun goes down, it’d take a brave visitor not to feel just the faintest shiver.

(Images: Serhii Piddubchak)

Read the full article HERE!

The post Cities of the Dead
Haunting, Other-Worldly Necropolises and Cemeteries appeared first on CVLT Nation.

Five o’ clock on a Saturday afternoon is a middle ground. For some, depending on the previous night, it’s right in the middle of breakfast – the breakfast of aspirin. For others, it’s the critical time of day where socially acceptable excuses are invented to not leave your home, because dammit I’m in a committed relationship with Netflix. But for punks in the know, 5 o’ clock on June 8th was the time the Echo’s door’s opened for Nails and a slew of hardcore acts from all walks of the genre.

Nails was clearly the draw, but there were all types of hardcore to be had Saturday. If Nails’ Entombed-core wasn’t your thing, there was Power Trip’s thrashy crossover hardcore to tide you over. If you don’t remember or don’t want to remember the mid-to-late ‘80s, Xibalba’s tough guy hardcore will have you frantically flailing and punching the air in seconds. Rounding off the lineup was Palm, who play a style of music that sounds like a hardcore version of Pantera, a combination that could only come out of Japan, the band’s homeland. And finally, there was the crowd-confusing acoustic set of Harm Wülf, pushing the limits of hardcore – and this paragraph – beyond its breaking point.

Harm Wülf, the bedroom project of Blacklisted’s George Hirsch, served as the opening credits to a night of aggression and unresolved family issues. The crowd mostly hugged the walls while the room slowly filled up with more bodies, while the few devotees to the strumming guitar and soft vocals cautiously stood two feet back from the stage. The songs of loss and solitude were good, but far removed from the rest of the lineup. Had Harm Wülf been on a more appropriate bill, Hirsch’s work would have found the audience it does legitimately deserve.

Following Hirsch was Palm, a Japanese band whose music deserved far, far more positive reception than it received. The audience just refused to budge no matter how many times vocalist Toshihiko screamed circle pit. They should have. Palm’s recorded work smashes metal into hardcore in a way that’s tastefully tasty. And while it is said too often but is too true not to convey here, their live performance exceeded their recorded work to the point that they put in a strong bid for best live band of the evening, which is saying something considering what was to come.

Power Trip

HARM WULF

HARM WULF

HARM WULF

HARM WULF

HARM WULF

HARM WULF

Palm

Palm

Palm

Palm

Palm

Palm

Palm

Palm

Palm

What was to come was Xibalba, a band as divisive within hardcore as a whole as they are revered within their own subsection. But no matter how much of a tr00 punk you are, you’d be a liar if you said Xibalba wasn’t the heaviest damn thing you’ve ever heard. Xibalba bring absolutely crushing breakdowns to the table, each riff a bid to one-up the last one. It was nauseating heaviness, the kind that makes your stomach acid ripple like a puddle in Jurassic Park and the kind that sends those with no concept of personal space spinning around like Beyblades that punch.

Xibalba

Xibalba

Xibalba

Xibalba

Xibalba

Xibalba

Xibalba

Xibalba

Xibalba

But if you just couldn’t help but turn your punx nose up to Xibalba, the next band was so far removed from them that it’s a wonder how they technically occupy the same genre. Power Trip does more than just flirt with thrash metal – the two are full-blown dating and they’ve met each other’s parents – but they avoid falling into the same pit that re-thrash bands of the mid ‘00s did, and that’s because they’re not a thrash revival band. Throw away the pants and high tops and hair and you’re left with what is essentially a modern take on crossover with a 1980s appearance. The songs were quick, the mood was frantic. And nothing summed up how modern a crossover thrash band Power Trip is than the banter between songs from vocalist Riley Gale about how they were late getting to LA because they accidentally released the shit and piss valve of their van into the streets of Oakland and had to clean up their “toxic waste.” Excrement and urine? Super punk! Cleaning it up and being green? Super modern!

Power Trip

Power Trip

Power Trip

Power Trip

Power Trip

Power Trip

Power Trip

Power Trip

Power Trip

Power Trip

Power Trip

Power Trip

For the few ear drums that remained spared of a lifelong affliction with Tinnitus, that changed once Nails took the stage. Led by guitarist/singer/motivational speaker Todd Jones, Nails exploded onto the scene with their 2010 album Unsilent Death. With a thick Kurt Ballou tone, Nails spat up a new record earlier this year called Abandon All Life, a record that, save for a few tracks, pushed them even further into the realm of grindcore, OG Napalm Death enthusiasts be damned.

Nails played a set that drew from all three of the band’s releases, even throwing in “Confront Them” from Obscene Humanity for the fans that have dug deeper than the 14 minutes of Unsilent Death. Armed with an additional guitarist, the two-guitar approach to their earlier work came across as even more punishing than usual. Nails has no pity. They have no empathy. Their music lays the groundwork for that fact and their live performance builds something ugly on top of it.

Todd punctuated clusters of hardcore carnage with a slew of topics between tracks. There was the obligatory you-can-be-anything-you-want-fuck-everyone hardcore speech. There was the don’t-talk-shit-online-if-you-won’t-in-person discussion, a toast to hxc etiquette in the computer age. And finally, there was some brief exploration of the value of athletics when, while Todd stressed being yourself and not someone else’s caricature of you, someone shouted out “fuck sports!” Todd mellowly deflected, saying “I don’t know about that…they’re not for me but if someone’s into sports then whatever.” These explorations of the social and political issues of our time had found a suitable home in between songs about God’s cold hands and wide open wounds.

Nails were, of course, the final nail in the coffin of a show that was essentially a hardcore showcase. They, assisted by their openers, left a definitive stamp on the healthy state of the genre now and what should be a grim yet satisfying future to come.

NAILS

NAILS

NAILS

NAILS

NAILS

NAILS

NAILS

NAILS

NAILS

The post CVLT Nation Covers
NAILS – Power Trip – Xibalba – Palm – Harm Wülf appeared first on CVLT Nation.

These photos from the album Manicomio Nacional: Departamento de Mujeres (National Madhouse: Woman’s Section), document the years February 1907 through August 1909, and each contains 201 double-sided pages. The albums, with almost 500 photographs, are one of the largest such compilations surviving and are a legacy of a distant era of psychiatric treatment. This hospital, situated in Montevideo, was the primary psychiatric facility in Uruguay.

A photograph of each patient was taken upon entering and again at discharge. Almost all the entrance photographs are present, but only about half of the ‘leaving’ photographs are extant, partially due to the death of patients while in the hospital. Most patients remained only a few months, but some stayed as long as a year or more. The death rate was 16.5%. The study and analysis of the photographs, as well as the diagnosis and other parameters, offer special insight into the care provided. The patient documentation reveals that many were brought in by the municipal police, a few were transferred from other hospitals and some admitted by private physicians. Most have a written diagnosis and a few have treatment discussed. The photographs represent a cross section of patients with mental illness. Several images in the albums depict older children with mental retardation.

The discovery of a photo album of psychiatric patients is a significant photographic-historical event. Less than handful of these hospital albums have been uncovered in the last 30 years. Most were destroyed decades ago; however, a few have been preserved by institutions.

The post Women of The National Madhouse
Inpatient Portraits from 1907 – 1909 appeared first on CVLT Nation.

These companies have a long track record for not giving a shit about human health, despite their claim to improve lives. Not so long ago, babies were given morphine for teething until sudden death became a side effect and depressed, captive housewives were given meth until serious addiction became a side effect…then these drugs went underground. Below find a fascinating list of 10 drugs that were routinely sold to consumers in the 19th and 20th centuries by big pharma and its ancestors – and remember that the research and development required for drugs to make it on the market today, especially in the US, is more geared towards turning a profit rather than making you healthy. However, I do acknowledge that there are circumstances that do require prescription drugs, especially as someone who has experienced serious chronic illness and cancer in my family. But the vast majority of these drugs are overprescribed and do more harm than good to human health, or else their long term effects are completely unknown, and this list gives you an idea of the kind of slapdash medicine that’s often practiced in Western societies when it comes to pharmaceutical sales. In my opinion, good health is more about building your body’s strength from within than it is about medicating it within an inch of its life. Give me Apple Cider Vinegar, Tea Tree Oil, ginger, garlic and weed any day!

Although giving little children cocaine to relieve toothache sounds outrageous today, the drug’s use in over-the-counter medication was seen as acceptable from the 1880s until the beginning of the 20th century. Sigmund Freud extolled the virtues of cocaine for its supposed ability to treat depression and impotence, while Coca-Cola’s initial popularity may have been due in part to it having the drug among its ingredients.

Many medicinal beverages and tonics began to contain cocaine – long-term users of which may suffer seriously disrupted eating and sleeping patterns, psychotic delusions and hallucinations, not to mention severe depression upon withdrawal. Cocaine was banned in the US in 1920, but by then the drug already had a well-established market.

Bayer Pharmaceutical Products invented heroin (diacetylmorphine) and started selling it from 1898. The drug now responsible for a high proportion of all drug overdose deaths was promoted as a cough suppressant as well as a better and safer substitute for morphine and codeine. Heroin was welcomed with open arms as an effective remedy – this being an age when pneumonia, tuberculosis and even the common cold were scourges – and doctors by the thousand were sent free samples to try.

Nevertheless, no sooner than 1899, stories began emerging of people becoming tolerant to the drug, and over the following few years, addiction cases started to be reported. Bayer stopped manufacturing heroin in 1913, and it was banned in the US in 1924.

Kimball White Pine and Tar Cough Syrup, which contained four minims of chloroform, was marketed as an effective tonic for cold symptoms and bronchitis. Indeed, as early as 1847, chloroform was used to relieve asthma symptoms and as a general anesthetic.

But despite the drug being hailed as a good substitute for ether, cases emerged of chloroform causing fatal cardiac or respiratory arrest. Multiple patients died after breathing it in, prompting doctors to revert back to using ether. In spite of this, however, chloroform was still used in mouthwashes and ointments. Eventually, in 1976, the Federal Drug Administration prohibited the use of chloroform for human consumption after the substance was found to cause cancer in lab animals.

In 1849, Mrs. Charlotte N. Winslow launched her Soothing Syrup in Maine. The cocktail, which combined ingredients such as sodium carbonate and aqua ammonia, may have been relatively harmless – except for one point: it contained 65mg of morphine per fluid ounce. The syrup was advertised as providing relief for children who were teething, and one mother wrote to The New York Times claiming its effect on her son was “like magic; he soon went to sleep, and all pain and nervousness disappeared.”

Unfortunately, children ran the risk of being put to sleep permanently as a result of morphine overdose. The American Medical Association denounced the syrup as a “baby killer” in 1911, although it remained on the market in the UK until 1930.

Ergoapiol was a medicine made from ergot and apiol that was sold in the early 1900s to treat menstrual irregularities. Ergot is a type of fungus that grows on rye grain. From medieval times, it was used to control bleeding after childbirth and, in some cases, to bring about abortions. It can be incredibly toxic, however, as it is capable of reducing blood circulation to such an extreme that gangrene takes hold. Ergot may also cause hallucinations.

Apiol is derived from celery leaves and parsley. In small doses it can induce abortions and treat menstrual disorders, but in large quantities it may damage the liver and kidneys.

The barbiturate known as pentobarbital was invented in 1928, and the brand name Nembutal was first used by Dr. John S. Lundy in 1930. The advertisement above claims that Nembutal is an excellent drug to use “when little patients balk at scary, disquieting examinations” and “when they’re frightened and tense.”

Although pentobarbital is an FDA-approved sedative and is used to treat seizures and insomnia, it would seem dangerous to utilize it to treat nervous children (by inserting it as a suppository). Not only can pentobarbital impede thinking and slow reactions, it can also be addictive, while overdoses may be fatal.

Quaalude-300 was a brand name for methaqualone, a drug first patented in the US in 1962. It was prescribed as a sedative, a muscle relaxant and as treatment for insomnia. Come 1965, it was the UK’s most frequently prescribed sedative, and by the early 1970s, it ranked sixth on the list of best-selling sedatives in the US.

The advertisement above claims that Quaalude-300 is a non-barbiturate, and while this is true, the drug does have barbiturate-like effects. Methaqualone depresses the central nervous system, reduces heart and respiration rates, and numbs the fingers and toes. Frequent users of Quaalude-300 could have developed a tolerance to the drug, and methaqualone overdoses can also result in death. In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, people increasingly used the drug recreationally, and it has been off the market in the US since 1982.

During the mid-19th century, two prominent physicians began to champion smoking as a treatment for asthma. One of them, English doctor Henry Hyde Salter, believed that asthma was caused by nervousness or excitement, which were said to lead to spasms of the bronchial tube muscles.

Salter advocated a range of so-called treatments, including the use of stimulants, to draw what he called “morbid activity” from the lungs. He also recommended taking tobacco as well as sedatives like chloroform and stramonium to relieve and suppress irritation. As we now know, smoking can in fact exacerbate asthma – and indeed trigger asthmatic attacks – rather than relieving it.

Laudanum is an alcoholic extract containing around 10 percent powdered opium. A powerful narcotic and pain reliever, from as early as 1676 it was promoted as a remedy for various conditions, and by the 1800s it was used to treat everything from meningitis and menstrual cramps to yellow fever.

Babies were spoon-fed the drug, which an advertisement for Atkinson and Barker’s Royal Infants’ Preservative claimed provided relief for teething pain, bowel problems, flatulence and convulsions. It also said that laudanum was “no stupefactive, deadly narcotic” but rather a “veritable preservative of infants.” The ad failed to mention that, besides its addictive properties, laudanum can cause constipation, itching, respiratory distress, and constriction of the pupils. Although it is still available, its use is restricted both in the US and UK.

Norodin is one of the most frightening supposed medicines on this list. It was the brand name for methamphetamine, the potent drug withdrawal from which causes depression, and which is strongly associated with suicide when used for long periods of time.

The advertisement above claimed that Norodin was “useful in dispelling the shadows of mild mental depression” and that it has “relatively few side effects.” Never mind the fact that it can result in various alarming physiological effects, including anorexia, tooth grinding, irregular heartbeat, insomnia, abnormal blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes. It is also extremely addictive and is one of the hardest dependencies to overcome. Surprisingly, methamphetamine is occasionally used today as a treatment for ADHD and obesity.

The post Heroin, Cocaine, Meth and Quaaludes…
19th to 21st Century Pharmaceutical Drug Lords appeared first on CVLT Nation.

Things got pretty trippy at Seattle’s Chop Suey Tuesday night. Lazer/Wulf, White Hills, Blood Ceremony, and almighty sludgers Kylesa absolutely destroyed. Before Tuesday I wasn’t too familiar with the mathy, progressive metal of Atlanta’s Lazer/Wulf but they kicked off the show with a loud, thrashy set. A good sign. Next up, NY’s White Hills killed. Their fuzzy, psyched-out, space rock put the crowd in a trance. It was no doubt one of my favorite sets of late. Wicked occult rockers Blood Ceremony have been on my must-see list for some time, so I was stoked to see their name on the bill when Sean first asked if I’d be interested in shooting this show. The resurgence of witch-cult female-fronted occult rock bands (Sabbath Assembly, Jex Thoth, Blood Ceremony, Purson) is a welcome trend. More 1972 than 2013, Alia O’Brien’s soulful vox, jazzy flute, and psychedelic organ captivate and meld well with the the fuzzed-out doom of her bandmates (think Sabbath-meets-Tull).

By the time Kylesa took the stage the venue was packed…big surprise. Paying little attention to how quickly the place was filling up, I slammed my tallboy and pushed my way to the front, squeezing between a few punks, heshers, older psych rock dads, a couple young ladies and a photographer or two – a fairly eclectic crowd proving just how far-reaching Kylesa’s tunes are – where I managed to establish a solid, eardrum-pummeling vantage point. I’m going to say now that Ultraviolet will certainly be at the top of my best of 2013 list and I was stoked to finally hear a number of the sonically adventurous tracks live. To be honest, I don’t really know what I can write about this band’s live show to truly do them justice. Their seamless blend of punk, crust, psych, prog, all-out southern sludge and even a little goth rock is unstoppable…not to mention the thundering dual drummers and Phillip’s theremin-skateboard guitar contraption! My ears were ringing well into the following afternoon. Anyway, pick your poison, throw on some heavy jams, tune out for a bit, and let the pictures be your guide to the madness.

The post CVLT Nation Exclusive
KYLESA – Blood Ceremony – White Hills – Lazer/Wulf
SEATTLE Photo Essay appeared first on CVLT Nation.

Twenty minutes isn’t a lot of time to make an impression, but hardcore punk thrives on handicaps. Whether it’s an ignored lack of instrument ability, the absence of a monitor or the presence of cops, hardcore has had a come-what-may attitude the entirety of its existence. From 7 p.m. to 7:20 on a warm Wednesday in Silverlake, Retox reconfirmed that credos as they carved out a space on Vacation Vinyl’s concrete floor and gave it everything they had for 1200 seconds.

Retox’s set at Vacation on May 29th was to commemorate and celebrate the release of their newest LP, YPLL. The between song banter was kept to a minimum, the only sentences amounting to some gratitude to the record store and a snarky plea to the audience to pick up the album. “Buy our album so we can be…something,” vocalist Justin Pearson said between breaths. “Successful.”

If you were to treat the Retox set as a 20 minute audition to gauge success, then the hardcore band has reached its goal. The Retox approach to hardcore combines the usual driving speed with uncharacteristic riffs whose noises land closer to mathcore than anything else.

With a fresh take on the hardcore genre as his audio backdrop, Pearson yelled and screamed directly into the audience’s faces. He draped the mic cord around his neck, occasionally yanking it toward the ceiling where for a few fleeting moments it was more noose than cord. He convulsed and contorted himself all over the small area at his disposal behind a table of records, at times arching his back so far it was like he was making a pitch for his inclusion as a gymnast for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

It was quick, it was satisfying, and it was engaging. It was everything a free set to celebrate a record release should be, ended by the satisfying sound of the drummer’s sticks free falling to his snare to end the performance and sending the audience back out into the Silverlake sunset. Short and sweet – if ever there was an idiom invented for hardcore and for Retox, that’s the one.

The post YPLL…
RETOX Attack Vacation Vinyl
Review & Sick Photo Essay appeared first on CVLT Nation.

Text and photos via the National Media Museum

These photographs of ‘spirits’ are taken from an album of photographs unearthed in a Lancashire second-hand and antiquarian bookshop by one of the our curators. They were taken by a controversial medium called William Hope (1863 – 1933).

Born in 1863 in Crewe, Hope started his working life as a carpenter. In about 1905 he became interested in spirit photography after capturing the supposed image of a ghost while photographing a friend.

He went on to found the Crewe Circle – a group of six spirit photographers led by Hope. When Archbishop Thomas Colley joined the group they began to publicise their work.

Following World War I support for the Crewe Circle grew as the grieving relatives of those lost to the war sought a means of contacting their loved ones.

By 1922 Hope had moved to London where he became a professional medium. The work of the Crewe Circle was investigated on various occasions.

The most famous of these took place in 1922, when the Society for Psychical Research sent Harry Price to investigate the group.

Price collected evidence that Hope was substituting glass plates bearing ghostly images in order to produce his spirit photographs.

Later the same year Price published his findings, exposing Hope as a fraudster. However, many of Hope’s most ardent supporters spoke out on his behalf, the most famous being Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Hope continued to practice, despite his exposure. He died in London on 7 March 1933.

The post Out of the Ether
William Hope Spirit Photography appeared first on CVLT Nation.

The post Ritual Of Passing…
Atriarch // Usnea //
Lighting Swords of Death
Photo Essay Footage Now Showing! appeared first on CVLT Nation.