Nature as a Site of Alternative Epistemologies

In this article I engage with the video works Sentimentum and Fantomi by the Finnish visual artist Venla Helenius, departing from the conceptual frameworks of esotericism and critical post-humanism. In these video works, different epistemological ideas found in various esoteric contexts—relating to imagination, temporality and the human–nature relationship—intertwine with ecological imagery, and specifically with the forest-locations. Sentimentum is a meta-fictional video, situated within a late capitalist framework, in which the human characters attempt to form connections with one another, with an other-species animal, and with the surrounding forest. In this framework, the forest emerges as a space that situates at the margins of the capitalist cultural reality, where diverse interconnections and alternative epistemic principles can take over. Fantomi is set in a dark Italian forest, where two characters engage with the surrounding nature through corporeal and supersensuous, methods. The video is further examined within the framework of witchcraft, which reveals its eco-critical undertones.