FirstLook: Mobile Library, Java

FirstLook May/June 2019 PDF
- Photographed by Putu Sayoga

In 2015 Ridwan Sururi of Serang Village, central Java, Indonesia, started the Kudapustaka (Horse library), and since then, three days a week, he has visited villages and schools like Miftahul Huda Islamic Elementary School. On this day he was joined by his two-year-old son, Tria Ramadhan. Together they handed out donated books to the students. As a photographer I did this story because I was also born in a village with difficult access to books. I believe in the power of books, and I know what Mr. Sururi is doing is important.
—Putu Sayoga
www.putusayoga.net
www.arkaproject.com
@putu_sayoga @arkaproject

The Borderless World of Kahlil Gibran

Written by Piney Kesting
 Photographed by Kevin Bubriski

Arriving penniless in Boston from Lebanon, Gibran Khalil Gibran—whose name a schoolteacher misspelled “Kahlil”—grew up to become one of the early 20th century’s most inspiring writers. The story of his against-the-odds rise is one of not only pluck and talent, but also luck and mentors, whose little-known stories are shedding new light on the complex biography of a man whose poetry and prose speak today as richly as nearly a century ago.

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Amedi: Citadel of Culture

Written by Matthew Teller 
Photographed by George Azar

Perched on a table-topped, naturally defensive crag overlooking green valleys in Iraq’s rugged north, the town of Amedi is one of what were once nearly 200 historic citadels and one of the most intact. Experts at home and abroad are pitching in to meet the town’s newest challenge: preserving the history that remains and, at the same time, turning it into a much-needed economic engine.

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FirstLook: Casablanca Not the Movie

Photograph by “Yoriyas” Yassine Alaoui Ismaili

I love walking the beach in Casablanca. Earlier this year I saw a dog digging a hole into the sand. The scene grabbed my attention, and I began to take a couple of pictures. When a boy rode up on a horse behind me to watch what was happening, I quickly took three steps back, placing the horse in the left of the frame, and made this photograph.

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Flavors: Reem’s Muhammara

Recipe by Reem Assil
Photograph courtesy Ricarius Photography

In every home in Syria, my family would serve multiple mezze dips with dinner, and muhammara was always a centerpiece. It has the perfect combination of tangy, nutty and spicy flavors. And it looks beautiful on a dinner spread.

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Kazakhstan’s Golden Son

Written by Hal Foster 
Photographed by Seitek Moldokasymov

Working patiently in his family-run lab, Krym Altynbekov has restored and re-created chariots, saddles, weapons, tools and clothing unearthed over the past four decades, including the unnamed warrior dubbed “the Golden Man,” who has become a national symbol of the Central Asian nation’s nomad history. But “gold isn’t the treasure for us,” says Altynbekov’s daughter Elina. “It’s the information we obtain about our past.”

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The Canary Islands Connection

Written by Gary Paul Nabhan
Illustrated by Norman MacDonald

Since antiquity, foods and food cultures have migrated from the Middle East westward as far as the Canary Islands. After 1492 the Canaries became a leading port of departure to the New World, and new research shows that Canarian culinary influences flowed particularly to the dry lands that today straddle the border between Mexico and the us. Those influences led to crops and livestock that have helped produce the region’s distinctive cuisine today—from albóndigas and atoles to sopapillas and zalabias.

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The Extraordinary Ordinary #everyday

Written by Mae Ghalwash

Founded by journalists to look beyond the headlines, Everyday Projects comprises more than 50 Instagram feeds featuring photography that captures a mosaic of life from just about everywhere, every day.

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Creatives
Now
Culture

The Storyteller of Tangier

Written and photographed by Jeff Koehler

Mohammed Mrabet ran away from school and never learned to read or write. But he told spellbinding stories. A friendship with writers Jane and Paul Bowles got him published in more than a dozen languages. Today he is known also for his painting and drawing.

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