egypt

Humanity is obsessed with life. The mantras of YOLO and Carpe Diem are modern reflections of the romanticism of living. While breath in the body makes you technically alive, it can be difficult to determine how to frame and fully live a life. There are thousands of blog posts describing how to achieve a life full of vigor, ranging from the electric beat of active community involvement to the mellow refreshment of the quiet life. Whatever path we choose, there is a similarity we all share in life: the desire to commemorate it after death. Through this logic, it is clear that it is natural for funerary art to exist as a way to express an aura of a life dearly missed.

British Library, London, UK

In the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, the Arab World’s army continues to combat the Islamic State’s attacks. As of October 2018, this war has forced as many as 20,000 families in the North Sinai Governorate to flee the fighting. With this devastating war continuing, it would be easy to assume that Egypt is not a safe place to travel. While you should avoid the Sinai Peninsula, there are plenty of places in Egypt where you can safely visit that will leave you in awe.

Africa is a magical place where nature roams free alongside history and modernity. Among all of this rich culture flows life-giving rivers and waterfalls. Flowing through different environments, these unique rivers have provided man’s oldest ancestors with life and still provide for today’s current residents. Travel with us to Africa where we will flow down the Nile, across Victoria Falls, and over the Orange, Limpopo, Niger, and Congo Rivers to discover what this great continent has to offer.

“Religious buildings, more than any other type of structure, are a unique window into the heart and soul of man. They tell of people reaching for something greater than themselves,” says Grant Herron, a master’s student in architecture at the University of Michigan.

The camera spans across the bank of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand, where locals gather to lift softly glowing lanterns into the dark autumn sky. Small green and purple boats made of leaves and Styrofoam carry flowers and candles out across the water, symbolically carrying away the griefs of the past year. It’s the 2011 celebration of Loi Krathong, the annual festival of the “Floating Crown,” and in the wake of major flooding across Bangkok, the small boats are weighed with more grief than usual.

Photo by Stephanie Secrist