Dr.Paul Koudounaris is a Los Angeles-based art historian, he devotes his career to investigating and documenting phenomena such as church ossuaries, charnel houses and bone-adorned shrines. In 2006, he started studying the use of human remains in religious ritual and as a decorative element in sacred spaces. He began writing about and photographing them for European newspapers and became a contributor to magazines which specialize in the paranormal, such as the Fortean Times.
His first book 'Empire of death' was published in 2011 the title taken from a caption at the Catacombs of Paris, it is the culmination of 5 years of travelling the globe documenting these fascinating sites. The book includes ossuaries such as the Santa Maria della Concezione dei cappuccini in Rome and the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic as well as the Chapel of Skulls in Czermna, Poland and the Memorial Stupa for the Victims of the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A host of similar, previously unknown sites, like the one that was living out its life quietly as a toolshed for a church’s gardener were also included in the book. The text created a context for understanding the construction of these types of elaborate ossuaries as a Catholic phenomenon that was initiated during the Counter-Reformation.
'Heavenly bodies' provides the largely forgotten story of the skeletons unearthed from the Roman catacombs. Adorned with jewels and gold and worshiped as martyrs. The "saints," though essentially unverified, buoyed Catholic spirits during the uncertainty of the Protestant Reformation and were unceremoniously abandoned by the early 19th century. These supposed-sacred remains served as protectors and patron saints. He also details their restoration, most notably the handiwork of Dominican nuns in Ennetach and master goldsmith Adalbart Eder. There are some astonishing images in the book such as St Deodatus in armor seated on a throne, a wax face mask concealing his skull and St. Gratian dressed in Roman military attire designed by Eder.
'Memento mori' was photographed across 250 sites in 30 different countries this book sets out to present a much more global view of the cultural and historical relativity regarding the concept of death. As usual beautifully photographed images and thoughtful text, Koudounaris explores the use of human remains worldwide—from devotional practices to decorative celebrations. He said that unlike the previous books, this one was primarily a photographic rather than historical and anthropological study, and that he intended it to be his final work on sacred human remains. In the introduction to this book, he retells a story about his guide on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, who, after inquiring about the local traditions of mummification, led him to a family that was keeping the remains of a young, mummified girl. 'They treated it as a daughter,' explained the guide, 'having sensed that it felt lonely and abandoned.' Koudounaris asked the guide if he considered it unusual to keep mummies in the home and says that his response was unforgettable. 'No,' he writes, 'he did not find it unusual, because when he was a boy, he and his brothers slept in the same bed as the mummy of their grandfather.'
Here, after 3 books about dead people we have a history of cats, their origins, evolution and relationship with their humans. From the prehistoric Felis (a large mammal from which all domestic cats have descended) to ancient Egyptian cat goddesses, key cats of the Enlightenment and swashbuckling pirate felines to name but a few. It is narrated by Baba the cat, who narrates the text with the kind of dry wit unique only to cats. Full of the usual amazing images, this time of Baba the cat in a wide assortment of historical costumes.
Comments