White Fungus to Release 18th Issue

White Fungus is about to release its 18th print issue. The new edition contains an epic 80-page interview with poet and novelist Eileen Myles, accompanied by photographs from deep within their archive. The piece follows a tradition of visually immersive long-form interviews in White Fungus.

Spanning decades, the conversation traces key chapters of Myles’ life, from childhood memories to becoming a poet in 1970s New York, reading at CBGB, and writing the cult classic novel Chelsea Girls. Myles discusses their mainstream crossover in 2015, involvement in the hit television series Transparent, and travel to Palestine. They also reflect on overcoming alcoholism and their writing process.

The issue includes an in-depth exploration of the profound but long-suppressed role of occultism in modern art. It probes the centrality of esotericism to the work of Hilma af Klint, Wassily Kandinsky, and the often-overlooked semi-abstract paintings of 19th-century artist Georgiana Houghton—produced decades before the conventionally understood beginnings of abstraction. The article is co-written by Marina Alexandrova and Ron Hanson.

Taipei artist Yao Jui-Chung contributes a photo essay owf wide-angle Polaroids capturing Madou Daitian Temple’s animatronic religious display, alongside similar depictions of hell across Taiwan and Singapore. The images are accompanied by a text discussing the mythological Chinese concept of hell and its resonance in contemporary Taiwanese life.

Order White Fungus here.