Before phones, the internet and television even, people stared into the fire, endlessly examining the shape-shifting flames, searching for meaning. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military beamed swaths of light into the jungle, hoping nearby villagers would be frightened off by the appearance of ghosts. Monks in Thailand repurposed this technique to give people a way to communicate with their dead, a practice now known as "Ghost Cinema."

The art here is from Korakrit Arunanondchai's exhibit "Days After Reverie," from the C-L-E-A-R-I-N-G gallery in Bushwick, NYC.