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THE VOLCANO RAVAGES HIS HOMELAND. HE PHOTOGRAPHS IT.

Saturday, November 27, 2021

In today’s newsletter, documenting the volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands; a Smithsonian home for early images of Serena and Venus Williams and ... a robot at the pyramids.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ARTURO RODRÍGUEZ

By Whitney Johnson, Director of Visual and Immersive Experiences

“I never dreamed about being so close to something like this,” says photographer Arturo Rodríguez. “It’s so big, so powerful.”

For weeks, earthquakes had rattled the neighboring island of La Palma, where Arturo was born and raised. And then, the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge erupted (pictured above).

Arturo had been preparing for a trip to La Palma to photograph scientists as they monitored the island's volcanoes; instead, he found lava and ash, destruction and displacement. He spent 65 days documenting the impact of the eruptions on his homeland.

"This monster erupted in the middle of the most populated area," Arturo says. So far, the ongoing eruption has destroyed more than 2,500 buildings and displaced thousands of people.

(Pictured, above left, officials watching lava take over a village; above right, the buildup of heavy ash can force roofs to collapse if not continually swept off or propped up with extra pillars of wood; below, workers in special suits measure the temperature of lava flows and take back rock samples for researchers.)

Arturo had received funding from the National Geographic Society to document the unprecedented economic disruption to the Canary Islands caused by COVID-19. And now, with the eruptions destroying crops across La Palma, Rodríguez fears for his home island's future have deepened.

"I can feel the pain,” Arturo says, “of all the people here.”

Oblivious? A horse and its foal calmly graze as the volcano erupts behind them.

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TODAY IN A MINUTE

From assignment to the Smithsonian: Nearly three decades ago, a community news photographer was told to shoot two up-and-coming kid tennis players. Fourteen images taken that day of a 12-year-old Venus Williams and her kid sister Serena, 10, being trained by their father, Richard, are now part of a collection at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Rod Lyons is grateful he had the opportunity to take the images, which cover a period featured in the just-released film King Richard. But he’s also a bit rueful. “Had I only known what these two little girls were going to become,” he told Smithsonian. See the images.

Related: Inside the Smithsonian’s secret storerooms

Need a laugh? These prize-winners from the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards might make your day. The images include a young elephant taking a mud bath and a blowing leaf that caught on the face of the pigeon. See the rest.

Flavors of fervor: For years, photographer Mathieu Richer Mamousse captured religious pilgrammages, from usual places like Lourdes, France, to Spain, Bulgaria, and Haiti. Take a look at his images.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY @PAOLOVERZONE

A robot at the pyramids: Ai-da, the world's first ultra-realistic humanoid AI robot, is on display in “Forever Is Now”, a first-of-its-kind contemporary art exhibition at the Giza pyramids. Ai-da uses cameras in her eyes, AI algorithms, and her robotic arm to draw. Created by Aidan Meller and named after mathematician Ada Lovelace, Ai-da was seized by Egyptian border agents who feared her robotics may have been hiding covert spy tools. The robot was held for 10 days.

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY JAN VAN IJKEN

Inside the water: Microscopic organisms known as plankton are inside every drop of water—thought most of us have never seen them. Photographer Jan Van Ijken focused on these ubiquitous life forms, which range from brilliantly colored blobs to miniature monsters with tentacles and gigantic eyes to (pictured above) a water flea carrying its embryos. “Every time I throw my net, I can work for weeks on what I find,” says Jan, whose art film, Planktonium, came out Nov. 17.

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Heather Kim, Jen Tse, and Monica Williams. Amanda Williams-Bryant, Rita Spinks, Alec Egamov, and Jeremy Brandt-Vorel also contributed this week. Have an idea or a link? We’d love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for reading!

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