Österlandet () is a photography book released in 2007. It chronicles 100 years of change in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

by retracing the travels of Algot Sätterström, a Swedish inventor and painter. Österlandet received positive reviews and was featured in leading periodicals like ''

Svenska Dagbladet (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily List of Swedish newspapers, newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. History and profile The first issue of appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the 1900s the pap ...

'', and ''Vagabond''. In January and February 2008 Stockholm's

Medelhavsmuseet Medelhavsmuseet (The Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities) is a museum in central Stockholm focused around collections of mainly ancient objects from the Mediterranean area and the Near East. Since 1999 the museum is one of four com ...

exhibited photographs from Österlandet. Following the exhibition Österlandet the book was added to Sweden's Royal Library.

Synopsis

In 2003, a box was discovered in Sweden that contained a journal, letters, and old glass-plate negatives which belonged to Algot Sättersröm. They told a story dating back to 1903, when Algot left Sweden to live in Egypt and Jerusalem. The material was discovered by photographer Mattias Sättersröm, Algot's great-grandson. After reading the journal, letters and printing from the glass-plates Mattias decided to follow in Algot's footsteps. He enlisted the help of friend and photographer, Mark Smith to collaborate on the project and landed in Alexandria one hundred years to the day after Algot arrived.

Permanence and Change

A primary theme of Österlandet is the juxtaposition of 1903–1904 and 2003–2004. Through research and exploration the authors emulate many of Algot Sätterström's photographs and create a visual record of how a century of social and economic change has effected

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Luxor Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt. Luxor had a population of 263,109 in 2020, with an area of approximately and is the capital of the Luxor Governorate. It is among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited c ...

and

The American Colony

Österlandet recounts Algot's introduction and friendship with the photography division of the American Colony in Jerusalem. During Algot's lifetime the American Colony was a controversial subject in Sweden. The debate continued in 1901 after

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

winning writer

Selma Lagerlöf Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (, , ; 20 November 1858 – 16 March 1940) was a Swedish writer. She published her first novel, ''Gösta Berling's Saga'', at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she was ...

published ''

'', a novel inspired by the American Colony. While in Jerusalem Mattias Sätterström and Mark Smith met with the last living member of the

Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna of East Anglia, King (died c.654) * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th c ...

and

Horatio Spafford Horatio Gates Spafford (October 20, 1828, Troy, New York – September 25, 1888, Jerusalem) was an American lawyer and Presbyterian church elder. He is best known for penning the Christian hymn " It Is Well With My Soul" following the Great Chic ...

family who founded the American Colony. With additional research they identified key members of the Colony's photography division to be in Algot's photographs. Amongst others, Algot captured images of Lewis Larsson, Erik Lind, Furman Baldwin and Eric Matson. The latter worked as a collective under the name The American Colony Photographers. Their photographs are registered at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

as th
Matson Photograph Collection

Addenda

The addenda presents thumbnail images and descriptions. It also imparts stories about what it took to achieve certain photographs, such as being chased by wild dogs, climbing the

Pyramid of Cheops The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid. It served as the tomb of pharaoh Khufu, who ruled during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Built , over a period of about 26 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wond ...

, spending numerous hours in jail to prevent the destruction of over 400 rolls of film, and motorcycle trips far into the

Western Desert In Egypt, the Western Desert is an area of the Sahara that lies west of the river Nile, up to the Libyan border, and south from the Mediterranean Sea to the border with Sudan. It is named in contrast to the Eastern Desert which extends east fro ...

to assimilate into bedouin culture. Also in the addenda are letters from Algot to his parents that describe his travels and his commissioned work painting murals for the Mena House Hotel in

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah, Gizeh, Geeza, Jiza''; , , ' ) is the third-largest city in Egypt by area after Cairo and Alexandria; and fourth-largest city in Africa by population after Kinshasa, Lagos, and Cairo. It is the capital of ...

References

External links

* https://www.satterstrom.se/osterlandet {{DEFAULTSORT:Osterlandet 2007 non-fiction books 20th century in Jerusalem Christianity in Jerusalem Books about photography Books about Egypt Books about Jerusalem