Comparative Hell

Contemporary popular culture is filled with demonic imagery - from vampires to Goth girls. These subjects in popular culture have roots in eastern and western traditions of depicting hell and its inhabitants, however, few have an understanding of the breadth and depth of religious traditions that make up the foundation of these contemporary phenomena. Comparative Hell is the first comprehensive, fully illustrated catalogue to present traditions of hell imagery and their relationship to the development of ancient and contemporary visual materials in Asia. Through essays by world-renowned scholars of art history and religious studies, as well as detailed object entries and breath-taking images, this cross-cultural volume of artworks explores the common human desire for spiritual transformation and the role of the concept of hell in shaping the visual cultures of Asia's dominant systems of belief: Buddhism, Daoism, Hinduism, and Islam. The publication explores differences in conceptions of the afterlife and artistic practices from religion to religion and culture to culture, organised around the themes of the binary of Hell and Heaven or Paradise; Judgement; Punishment; and Salvation.