Statues have been causing a lot of noise lately, funny for something that can neither move nor speak. Something about them however ignites a passion in people on both sides of the spectrum from Civil War memorials in New Orleans to Pre-Islamic monuments in Syria. I don't think this is anything new. Throughout history we see the destruction of the ancient and erection of the new. It is a way of establishing dominance and shaping history or rather the memory of it. In my own

Years ago, as a kid, even before I had even considered my future life as a filmmaker I was captured by an inconspicuous book of photography on our family bookshelf. It was a sample of works by the photographer Clarence John Laughlin. Shooting primarily in the early 20th Century, Laughlin's work is decidedly gothic in nature - decrepit mansions, shimmering cemeteries, and crumbling forgotten ruins. I was captivated by his virtuoso ability to combine the macabre and the sublime