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Georgia O'Keeffe's handmade pastels. © Annie Leibovitz. From "Pilgrimage" (Random House, 2011).

Throughout her career, world-famous photographer Annie Leibovitz has produced countless stunning portraits of notable figures and celebrities. Her new show, “Pilgrimage,” which opened at the American Art Museum on January 20th, features photography that takes visitors on a biographical tour in a much different way. Rather than showing even a single face or human body, she captures objects and landscapes that shed light on a number of transformative figures in both American and world history—a range of people that includes Eleanor Roosevelt, Sigmund Freud and Annie Oakley.

Ironically, the exhibition arose from Leibovitz’ personal journey of renewal, she explained during a press tour of the exhibition yesterday. ”I didn’t quite know what I was doing when I was first doing it,” she said. “I was trying to find a reason to live, or a place to be inspired, and found that this country has a deep well of places to go.”

The project differs greatly from her previous work, Leibovitz says, because she conceived it while looking for an escape from many of the difficulties—financial and otherwise—that had recently come into her life. As she writes in the book that accompanies the exhibition, after her fortunes took a unexpected tumble, she took her children on a trip to Niagara Falls only to find that her credit card had been declined at the hotel where they had planned to stay. Dejected, she brought her children to the falls and was unexpectedly filled with inspiration. “I was sitting off to the side, feeling a little down, and I saw my children mesmerized, studying the falls,” she said. “I walked over, stood behind them, and took this picture. It’s a photograph that anyone can take—an American snapshot.”

Although Leibovitz was energized by the experience, she was unsure how to proceed. “I wasn’t totally sure if I should do the project, because I was worried,” she said. “These pictures had come out of an escape, of not being on assignment. I was worried that if I made it a project, then it would become something I had to do.”

Nevertheless, she put together a list of places that captured some of history’s most influential and fascinating people. Over the next several years, she traveled to dozens of locations—places like Graceland, Monticello and Yellowstone. “I was swept away when I walked into these places,” she said. “I found myself taking pictures without thinking about the consequences. I was seduced.”

Leibovitz' 2011 self-portrait. © Annie Leibovitz. From "Pilgrimage" (Random House, 2011).

Museum-goers who view the results of Leibovitz’ journey are sure to be seduced as well. The photographs in the exhibition range widely in scale, with some focusing on quotidian minutiae (such as Emily Dickinson’s nightgown) and others revealing vast and uniquely American landscapes (such as the Great Salt Lake or Yosemite Valley). In all cases, the photos convey how Leibovitz chose what to photograph: she captured the objects and scenes that most deeply moved her. The items—things like Georgia O’Keeffe’s handmade pastels, or John Muir’s botanical specimens—are just as moving in the gallery as they must have been when Leibovitz first set eyes upon them.

The journey that led to “Pilgrimage” was first prompted by Leibovitz’ own children, and she hopes the photography can resonate especially well with younger audiences. “When I came into the Smithsonian, there were so many children running around, and it was so exciting to see, so I hung the show low, for the children,” she said. “This book is dedicated to my children, and it’s something that we want to pass on to them. I can’t wait to see a young class in here and see what they think.”

Leibovitz says that she hopes the show will remind others just how much there is to see in this country—and inspire them to start their own pilgrimages. “It was so much fun. I only hope that others see what anyone can get out of this,” she said. “We have this great country, and you can just hit the road and find places that inspire and mean something to you.”

Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage is on view at the American Art Museum through May 20th. Signed copies of her book are available at SmithsonianStore.com.

Congolese artist Sammy Baloji combines images of past industry with modern photographs in a patchwork of memory and regret. Image courtesy of the Natural History Museum.

In Sammy Baloji’s native Congo, the mid-20th century is wistfully remembered as la belle époque, or the beautiful time. During the colonial era of the 1930s and 1940s, skilled Congolese laborers built a thriving copper mining industry that turned the city of Lubumbashi into a modernized center of wealth and cosmopolitan culture. This period saw unusual prosperity that permeated all levels of colonial society, from the Dutch colonial industrialists to the black Congolese workers.

This brief moment of universal prosperity is memorialized in “The Beautiful Time: Photography by Sammy Baloji,” now on view at the Natural History Museum. Baloji’s photographic collages superimpose this heyday of the past with the desolation of the present. The copper mines of today, abandoned and dormant, become backdrops for archival black-and-white photographs of mine workers and colonial officials.

What happened in the gap between these two realities? The invisible step—30 years of civil war, the assassination of the first legally elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, and rampant government corruption—haunts every photograph. “The archival photograph is always in the front plane and the desolation is in the back,” curator Mary Jo Arnoldi says. “What’s missing is the memory of those 30 years. He’s celebrating the work of his grandfathers who built this great modern colony, and then he’s indicting his father’s generation who squandered it through the government’s corruption.”

A rare archival photo of Lubumbashi women is juxtaposed with the barrenness of the modern mines.

“The Beautiful Time” came to the Natural History Museum from the Museum of African Art in New York City. “I was very interested in it because the permanent exhibit here, “African Voices,” is focused on giving voice to Africans themselves to tell their stories about contemporary Africa and their history, as opposed to the museum always being the voice,” Arnoldi says. She plans to use volunteer facilitators to help direct visitors and explain the links between Baloji’s work and the rest of the African Voices exhibit. “In the permanent exhibit, our main topics are the value of work, how wealth is created, the colonial experience,” Arnoldi says. “And [Baloji's] photographs speak to all of these things in a really compelling way. It gives it a visual voice as opposed to just text.”

The colonial industry of Lubumbashi in many ways adds nuance to the conventional history of colonized Africa. “The Belgians invested, but the people who actually did the work were Congolese,” Arnoldi points out. “They became a very skilled group of people. They sent their kids to school and built this very modern city. We’re talking about a very modern population of people with technological skills who are running a pretty sophisticated industry.”

Arnoldi brings a new element to the previous show at the Museum of African Art. She added commentary from Baloji’s fellow Congolese artist and collaborator, poet Patrick Mudekereza, to flesh out the story beyond the cold historical facts. According to Mudekereza, Baloji is challenging the romantic narrative of the period.  “Sammy’s photographs are not nostalgic celebrations of the beautiful time, which is a phrase we often hear the older generation use when referring to the golden age of the colonial mining industry,” Mudekereza writes in one of the show’s inscriptions. “Rather, his pictures speak to today, implying a failure by our leaders to provide our people with a means to create a more beautiful time than before.”

Noticeably, there are no contemporary Congolese people in the photographs. Baloji avoids the use of city’s current inhabitants because he wants them to be active viewers of the history he depicts. As Arnoldi says, “These are directed to a global art audience, but also directed very specifically to a young Congolese audience, to his generation.”

Inscribed on the wall outside the African Voices exhibit is a Sierra Leonean proverb: “Know the road you’ve come down or you can’t know where you’re going.” Arnoldi sees this proverb as central to Baloji’s work. “He’s saying you have to understand your past. You have to understand the past of who built these mines. You have to understand what happened to them,” she says. “In order to move forward, you have to own your history.”

The Beautiful Time: Photography by Sammy Baloji opened on January 7th and runs through 2012 at the Natural History Museum.

A still life from Annie Leibovitz's Pilgrimage, on view at the American Art Museum. Image courtesy of Annie Leibovitz/Contact Press Images.

Tuesday, January 24 Annie Leibovitz’s Pilgrimage

Renowned portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz comes to the American Art Museum to discuss her latest project, Pilgrimage, currently on view. Called an “icon-maker” by the New York Times, Leibovitz departs from her usual celebrity portraits to a deeply personal, largely unpeopled study of places and objects that have moved her over the years. Free. This event is sold out, but a stand-by line will be formed at 5:30 p.m. Talk starts at 7:00 p.m. McEvoy Auditorium, American Art Museum.

Wednesday, January 25 Profile America Forum on American Indian and Alaska Native Populations

At this forum, the U.S. Census Bureau will release a 2010 Census brief on the status of American Indian and Alaska Native populations across the country. Following the presentation, museum director Kevin Gover will moderate the discussion with an expert panel on the current social and economic impact of the American Indian and Alaska Native populations. Free. 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Museum of the American Indian.

Thursday, January 26 Flights of Fancy

In the latest program of the Air and Space Museum’s Flights of Fancy story series, kids of all ages will learn about the historic 1969 flight of Apollo 11 in a story-telling of Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca. Free. 11 a.m., repeating Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Air and Space Museum.

For a complete listing of Smithsonian events and exhibitions visit the goSmithsonian Visitors Guide. Additional reporting by Michelle Strange.

The Smithsonian Institution today announced that it will delay the openings of all the Washington, DC area museums and the National Zoo until 11 a.m.

Now that you’ve probably burned through the lists of historians, innovators, and food-writers to follow this year, we’re bringing it back home to the Smithsonian. As always, the Mall is cooking up some fascinating, crazy, and sometimes grotesque stuff for 2012. Bookmark these people and projects to keep up with this year:

Nicholas Pyenson: Pyenson studies and curates fossils of marine mammals. Get a feel for what is going on inside his lab and follow his team into the field—fresh from an expedition in Chile—at his blog, Pyenson Lab.

Postal Museum: Time for a pop quiz: A “hamper dumper” is:

a) machine in postal processing

b) bin of misprint stamps

c) failed mail vehicle

d) philatelic tool.

If you know the answer, you should be following the Postal Museum (@postalmuseum) for their daily #PostalQuiz and other philatelic factoids.

Biodiversity Heritage Library: As part of the Biodiversity Heritage Library consortium, the Smithsonian Libraries collects and digitizes biodiversity research for open online access—essentially, a bio-wiki. Check out @biodivlibrary for the species of the day: plants that eat worms, albino penguins and other bizarre creatures you never knew existed.

Archives of American Art Pinterest: The American Art Pinterest lets you browse the archives and “pin” the images you like to your virtual board. Mix and match from collections like “facial hair of note” and “ain’t no party like an artist’s party.”

Book Dragon: The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program’s Book Dragon is the pet project of former APA Media Arts Consultant Terry Hong, featuring reviews of “books for the multi-cultural reader.” Hong highlights literature for kids and adults alike that speaks to the Asian American experience. Follow her at @SIBookDragon.

Smithsonian Vids: For a moving view of the Institution, follow @SmithsonianVids. Meet a scientist studying frog-eating bats, or get a video tour of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings from Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart.

Smithsonian Marine Station: This Natural History Museum field station, located in Fort Pierce, Florida, tweets news updates and photos from the field (er, coral reef) @SmithsonianSMS. Plus, there’s #followfriday trivia every week.

Field Book Project: Also, from the Natural History Museum and the Smithsonian Institution Archives check out this blog, where researchers post updates on their initiative to compile an online database of field books and journals documenting biodiversity research. Besides progress updates, you’ll also find excerpts of century-old field notes from explorers, birdwatchers and scientists (including lots of fun, old-timey sketches) and learn a lot more than you ever thought there was to know about indices.

Encyclopedia of Life: Take your best shot and enter the picture in the Smithsonian’s Encyclopedia of Life Flickr photo contest. The bi-weekly contest could be (and has been) any theme from “backyard life” to “sexual dimorphism.” Even if you don’t enter, be sure to browse the entries for gems like this.

And of course, if you’re not following them already, the museums are always Tweeting up a storm. Here’s the checklist:

American Indian Museum: @SmithsonianNMAI

National Portrait Gallery: @npg

American Art Museum: @americanart

Anacostia Community Museum: @anacostiamuseum

American History Museum: @amhistorymuseum

Air and Space Museum: @airandspace

Museum of Natural History: @NMNH

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: @hirshhorn

Freer and Sackler Galleries: @FreerSackler

Museum of African Art: @NMAfA

National Zoo: @NationalZoo

Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum: @cooperhewitt

Smithsonian: @Smithsonian