Slash & Burn (2014-2018)

Finnskogen, literally ‘Forest of the Finns’, lies on the border between Norway and Sweden. Finnish immigrants settled in this large, continuous forest in the early seventeenth century. These Forest Finns burnt down parts of the forest, grew food for several years and then migrated to another area. This was an early method of land reclamation for the benefit of agriculture, a quick way to create fertile soil with the ash acting as a fertiliser. The Forest Finns’ relationship with nature was rooted in eastern shamanistic tradition, in which rituals, incantation and magic symbols served as practical, everyday tools. In Norway, they now form a recognised national minority, which one can choose to be part of regardless of one’s actual descent. In SLASH & BURN, Terje Abusdal refers to their way of life, while researching what it means to be a Forest Finn in a time when their culture and language have long since disappeared.