FirstLook: Mobile Library, Java

FirstLook May/June 2019 PDF
- Photographed by Putu Sayoga
Categories
- Creatives

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 Emperor from Africa

Written by Barnaby Rogerson
Photographed by Don McCullin

One of two sons of a wealthy, politically ambitious, olive-farming family, Septimius Severus grew up in Leptis Magna, along what is now the coast of Libya, in the second century ce. At first not the most promising of teenage scions, he matured to take high command posts on the Danube frontier and, at 48, became the Roman Empire’s first emperor born on the African continent. Over his 18-year reign, he rarely sat on a throne in Rome, preferring travel with the legions to frontiers and far reaches where his efforts expanded the empire to its greatest extent and left legacies in law and architecture that endure today.

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History
People

Flavors: Pistachio, Zucchini and Lemon Cake

I started making this cake years ago when I was running my deli. I really prefer it to carrot cake and the green of the pistachio slivers running through it make it not only beautiful but delicious.

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Tastes

Sahara Blues

Written by Banning Eyre
Photographed by Charlotte Doughty

Coming out of the struggles of post colonial desert Africa, Tuareg band Tinariwen adapted blues rock ‘n‘ roll guitars to North African traditions. The result has been nearly four decades of a sound that has inspired an entire genre of “desert blues,” in which themes of loss, home, hope and unity transcend language for audiences around the world.

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Creatives
Culture

The Arts Come Home to Bethlehem

Written by Mariam Shahin
Photographs courtesy of Dar Jacir

From urban gardening workshops to artists in residence, gallery shows, cinema and a historical archive, Dar Jacir is one of the oldest and most stately homes in Bethlehem and one of the Palestinian town’s newest touchstones for creative expressions.

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Creatives
Places

Making Lawrence of Arabia

Written by Vyvyan Kinross

In 1919 American journalist and filmmaker Lowell Thomas glamorized British Army officer Thomas Edward Lawrence first in war propaganda and then in commercial cinema. His show traveled the world and gave birth to one of the most popular modern legends of Western involvement in the Middle East.

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Texting Cuneiform

Written by Jane Grutz

The world’s first palm-sized tablets were made of clay, and they had enough surface for only a few wedge-shaped impressions of a reed stylus. That was how students in Sumer—all boys—learned to write cuneiform. Those who did well could upgrade to bigger clay and go into accounting, law or literature.

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History
Culture

FirstLook: Stepwells of Chand Baori

Photograph by Victoria Lautman

The Stepwell of Chand Baori

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Creatives

Messages in the Maps

Written by Graham Chandler 
Images courtesy of the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford

Long given short shrift by Western scholars for being more schematic than to scale, Islamic maps from the 10th to the 18th century were often sophisticated images, full of insights for anyone willing to set out and explore them.

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History

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