Amelia Ishmael

Amelia Ishmael is an artist, curator, music journalist, scholar, and lecturer specializing in black metal, contemporary art, and art criticism. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography and New Media from the Kansas City Art Institute and a Master of Arts in Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has contributed to publications, including One+One Filmmakers Journal, Art in Print, Newcity, ArtSlant, Art Papers, Review, Art21, Cacophany, Becoming the Forest, and FNews Magazine.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} She is the co-editor of and a curator for the interdisciplinary journal Helvete: A Journal of Black Metal Theory, which specializes in black metal theory, and is the editor for the radio publication Radius.^[1][9] Her curated exhibitions include "Black Thorns in the Black Box" (with Bryan Wendorf) and "Black Thorns in the White Cube".^[10][11]

Ishmael first encountered metal music at the age of 14, when she was living in Florida.^[12] A friend from her art class introduced her to the band Six Feet Under, and shortly afterward another friend gave her a compilation of songs by Arcturus, Emperor, Cradle of Filth, Samael, and Pink Floyd.^[1] This piqued her interest in black metal, and when she relocated to Kansas City in the late 1990s she attended shows by the local black metal band Descension.^[12] During her undergraduate studies she created sound and multimedia art installations, basing many of them off of themes from the Odyssey.^[10] For her Master's thesis she wrote on black metal in contemporary art, work in which her installation "Black Thorns in the White Cube" was grounded.^[10][12] The piece explored how contemporary artists draw upon the languages, iconography, and narratives of black metal – what Ishmael calls the "mythology" of black metal.^[10][11] Reviewers, along with Ishmael herself, noted that some prior exposure to the black metal music scene was helpful for understanding the exhibition.^[11][12]

• Ishmael, Amelia; Tallman, Susan (September–October 2012). "Stanley William Hayter—Essential Reading". Art in Print. 2 (3): 26–27. ISSN 2164-2702. JSTOR 43045415.
• Ishmael, Amelia (January–February 2013). "Tony Fitzpatrick: More American Etchings". Art in Print. 2 (5): 20–21. ISSN 2164-2702.
• Ishmael, Amelia (March–April 2013). "Review: NEW EDITIONS: Onsmith & Nudd". Art in Print. 2 (6): 26. ISSN 2164-2702. JSTOR 43045505.
• Ishmael, Amelia (September–October 2013). "Alain Biltereyst: Untitled". Art in Print. 3 (3): 43. ISSN 2164-2702.
• Ishmael, Amelia (December 2013). "On the 20th Annual Chicago Underground Film Festival" (PDF). One+One Filmmakers Journal. 2 (12): 12–23.
• Ishmael, Amelia (2014). Introduction. Transcendental Geology. By Bouschet, Gast; Hilbert, Nadine.
• Ishmael, Amelia (March 31, 2014). "An interview with Aldo Tambellini: going back again, forward… suspended in space, circular forms, broadcasting signals into spirals". Wavelengths. James Cohan Gallery.
• Ishmael, Amelia (July 1, 2014). "To Raise a Storm: Gast Bouschet and Nadine Hilbert's Tempestarii and the sympathetic magic of digital video" (PDF). One+One Filmmakers Journal. 1 (13): 32–41.
• Ishmael, Amelia (2014). Wilson, Scott (ed.). "Black Metal in the White Tower: Metal's Formless Presence in Contemporary Art" (PDF). Melancology: Black Metal Theory and Ecology. United Kingdom: Zero Books: 119–151. ISBN 978-1780991894.
• af Gennäs, Staffan Boije; Ishmael, Amelia (2014). "Mediating Darkness". J'ai Froid (4). Castillo/Corrales.
• Amelia Ishmael (2015). Introduction. The White People. By Ineke, Ibrahim R. Haarlem: Sherpa Haarlem. ISBN 978-90-8988-085-7.
• Ishmael, Amelia; Soliday, J., eds. (2016). EN3MY: 1550 N Milwaukee Ave., Third Fl., 2012-2005. Holon.
• Ishmael, Amelia (2017). Helle, Una Hamilton; Brown, Lotte (eds.). Here the repellent harpies make their nests. Het Bos Antwerpen. ISBN 9789090303468.
• Ishmael, Amelia; Ineke, Ibrahim (2017). II.

• "Black Thorns in the Black Box" (with Bryan Wendorf) - 2011^[1]
• "Black Thorns in the White Cube" - 2012^[1]
• "Prelude: The Breath of Charybdis" – 2013^[9]
• .blacK~SSStaTic_darK~fuZZZ_dOOm~glitCH. – 2013^[1]
• "The Night is No Longer Dead; it has a life of its own" – 2013^[1]
• "Prelude: The Breath of Charybdis"^[13]
• DIVINITUSSSANIMALUSSSACRÉUSSSORGANUSSS (with support by Michelle Puetz and Peter Margasak) – 2014^[14]
• "Eccentricities and Disorientations: Experiencing Geometricies in Black Metal" (with Elodie Lesourd) – 2015
• "Bleeding Black Noise" – 2016^[15][16]
• "I Am the Sun" – 2016^[17]
• "Only The Truth Disguised in a Dream" – 2019^[18]