Feature Stories
The Flying Photographer: Jez O’Hare
You’ve probably seen his photographs in magazines, perhaps in a coffee-table book on the Wallace Line or the Indonesian archipelago, maybe even in an advertisement for a high-definition television. They are those rare images that capture the essence of a place, showing us an aspect that is unique and rare; images that require not only passion, drive, planning, and courage, but also a piece of equipment that creates its own centrifugal force, called a gyro stabilizer, and a micro light aircraft. Jez O’Hare’s images from above inspire travel, exploration and poetry, offering us an escape into a world that we can’t quite make tangible and triggering a mind, heart and soul reaction of awe at the beauty of Indonesia.
Feature Stories
Ubud Writers Festival 2009: Q&A with Vikas Swarup
As a novelist, Vikas Swarup made the kind of debut that goes beyond the wildest dreams of most budding authors; not only was his first book, Q&A, picked up by publishers across the world, it went on to become a multiple Oscar-winning blockbuster movie, Slumdog Millionaire. Next week Vikas will be in Ubud for the 2009 UWRF: Kabar caught up with him for a little Q&A in advance of the festival.
Travel Tales
Bali's Green School (www.greenschool.org) organised a screening of the award-winning documentary FLOW (For Love Of Water). Intense and provoking, the film explores aspects of the global water crisis, from polluted tap water and contaminated bottled water in the US to the privatisation of water services in developing countries, which often excludes the poorest from access to clean water. Producer Steven Starr has been working with students of the Green School over the past week, and described how impressed he was by the "enthusiasm for life" he found on the campus. In March, a group of Green School students travelled to the Global Issues Conference for EARCOS (East Asia Regional Council of Schools) to present their research on water issues in Bali. This ongoing work is set to become the basis for a documentary film on the subject later this year.
As a fundraiser to sponsor emerging Indonesian writers to attend the 2009 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, the Indonesian Heritage Society is organising a lunch with Elizabeth Pisani on April 7th in Jakarta. Pisani's life as an HIV prevention researcher has taken her from the brothels of southwest China to the gay bars of Bangkok, and in Indonesia she has worked with the health ministry to map HIV risk. She will speak about her experiences and her book The Wisdom of Whores at the IHS lunch, in a talk entitled 'Landscapes of Desire: sex, politics and AIDS in Indonesia.' Funds raised at the event will be used to send two or more Indonesian writers to participate in the October festival, and also to fund 5 Indonesian readers, students and aspiring writers to attend. For more information and to buy tickets (Rp.300,000), contact IHS at +62 21 5725870.
With its incredible topographic and cultural diversity, Indonesia remains a puzzle to many outsiders. Historians, anthropologists, and politicians have struggled to define the precise contours and identity of this sprawling archipelago.
Other Stories
- Hot Property: after 30 years on the island, Bali business is still booming for architect Ross Franklin (Deborah Cassrels in The Australian). #
- Subscribe now! Edition 3 of the double-sided Kabar Indonesia/Expat Jakarta is in stores now. For more information on how to get a copy, e-mail us at subscribe@kabarmag.com. #
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