USA-ANNIE LEIBOVITZ EXHIBITION Photographer Annie Leibovitz puts her American journey in exhibition form

Record ID: 861997

  • Title: USA-ANNIE LEIBOVITZ EXHIBITION Photographer Annie Leibovitz puts her American journey in exhibition form
  • Date: 19th November 2014
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 19, 2014) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANNIE LEIBOVITZ, PHOTOGRAPHER, SAYING: "I walked in and I saw this room filled with boxes with her name stenciled on the boxes and there were set pieces. It just - it was like you were looking at someone's life in boxes. So it has a very special meaning to me."
  • Embargoed: 4th December 2014 12:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8N4CNI1JAG7W5DB1BP4V63EEF
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  • Story Text: Famed photographer Annie Lebovitz has turned her lens away from celebrities and on to landscapes and American history.
    Shot from April 2009 and May 2011 the exhibition titled "Pilgrimage," which is completing its national tour at the New York Historical Society Museum and Library, features 78 images.
    Lebovitz said her work is normally on-demand and enforced with a deadline but for this project she allowed her curiosity to guide the journey.
    "I started to realize I had kind of an eclectic crazy set of places I'd like to go visit and see. Georgia O'Keefe was very important. Martha Graham was very important - these people. I just made this crazy, crazy list and I started trying to make my way," she said.
    Over the course of the three years Leibovitz traveled to the homes of Thomas Jefferson, Emily Dickinson and Martha Graham's Center of Contemporary Dance, which she found inspiring.
    "I walked in and I saw this room filled with boxes with her name stenciled on the boxes and there were set pieces. It just - it was like you were looking at someone's life in boxes. So it has a very special meaning to me."
    The photographer also visited U.S. landmarks including Yosemite Valley and Old Faithful.
    Although mainly known for her headline making magazine covers, Leibovitz said this exhibit showcases the research she does before shooting human portraits.
    "Unfortunately the people are gone, they are no longer there. But this is not so different from what I do every day. You have to understand your subject. And these are just photographs of the places and the landscapes and the objects that would have led to taking a portrait. So it's actually just the note taking."
    In the end Leibovitz said the project was a chance to refill herself.
    "When you get older, I think the reason I've been around this long, is I understand how to take care of my work. I understand what the work needs. And you have to feed it, it's like a big baby, you have to feed it. And it needed some nurturing and some renewal. And, you know, I turn to my work a lot during times of trouble and this was something that, you know, really filled me up."
    "Pilgrimage" will be on display from November 21-February 22. The photographs are also available in a coffee table book.
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