In The Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses, Dr. Paul Koudounaris gives us an intimate understanding of the sites where bones of dead people are placed together en masse. What may seem like a gory theme for a book and photo series is actually a beautiful treatment of the culturally touchy subject of death. Armed with a PhD in Art History from UCLA, Dr. Paul K begins his odyssey with a "A Dialogue with Death," moving into the spiritual and ethnic significance of places holding multiple human remains. "These sites were intended as statements of hope and beauty," he writes, "and it was important to me that I find a means through photographs and the writing of history to convey that: these sites represent death only in so far as death itself affirms life."
The author and artist signs copies of his beautifully bound publication in New York on October 13, and in San Francisco on October 20, 21, and 23.