Paul Koudounaris has a PhD in Art History from UCLA and is well known as an author on macabre visual culture, especially involving the history of mortality. He was penned three award winning books: The Empire of Death (a study of ossuaries), Heavenly Bodies (a history of Baroque-era jeweled skeletons), and Memento Mori (a global look at the use of human remains in funerary culture). As a photographer, he is also well known for his images of macabre subject matter, and Memento Mori was named by Interview magazine as a top ten art and photo book from 2015.

He also studies animal history, with a focus on obscure subject matter, the paranormal, and folklore. He has given talks throughout the USA and Europe about topics as diverse as ship cats and psychic dogs, and has compiled what is likely the world’s largest archive of pet cemetery images. He has a keen interest in the subject of animal mortality, remembrance, and mourning.