Pure fucking art: Self-harm and performance art in Per ‘Dead’ Ohlin’s musical legacy

Abstract

Although black metal would reach international notoriety with the actions of Varg Vikernes, who murdered his friend and fellow musician Øystein ‘Euronymous’ Aarseth in 1993, the foundation of the genre’s violent, misanthropic image was set several years earlier by the Swedish vocalist of Mayhem, Per ‘Dead’ Ohlin, whose onstage penchant for self-harm and eventual gruesome suicide earned him almost mythical status within the realm of metal music. The fact that Dead’s influence on metal music has remained so strong in the 30 years following his suicide has significant artistic implications, especially considering that he never managed to record a studio album with his band. Although Dead’s suicide colours his self-harm with obvious elements of mental illness and trauma, his role as an artist warrants a deeper analysis of his onstage theatrics, viewing them from the perspective of intense devotion to his art. By reading Dead’s artistic endeavours within the context of performance art involving self-harm, his actions become an aesthetic expression of that pain, which, when combined with the atmosphere of the music and his lyrics, creates an intense portrait of Dead’s quest for an expressive outlet in his performance. Dead’s self-inflicted performative violence echoes the work of pioneering artists such as Chris Burden, Yoko Ono and Marina Abramovic, and although Dead undoubtedly suffered from serious mental illness, viewing his self-harm alongside other visceral artistic expressions of pain and trauma helps refigure his aesthetic contributions to black metal as a unique synthesis of destruction and creation.