Events August 24-26: Bones, Steel Pans, and Photographic Ingenuity

Friday August 24 Forensic Friday: Skeletal Remains

What stories can bones tell? Where did your classroom skeleton come from? Smithsonian’s physical anthropologists discuss the history, importance and many uses of the Institution’s skeletal collections. Learn about how bones are used to understand everything from health and disease to cultural differences and mortuary practices. Drink a glass of calcium-rich milk and come on down. 10:30 a.m.-noon. Free. Natural History Museum, Second Floor (Inside the “Written in Bone” exhibition).

Saturday August 25 In conversation with Jananne Al-Ani

Contemporary visual artist Jananne Al-Ani joins the Freer and Sackler Gallery’s curator Carol Huh to discuss the evolution of her work. The conversation will examine the award-winning artist’s approach to photographic media and its relationship to representations of the Middle East. According to The Contemporary Art Society, the Iraqi-born artist “offers an array of sensory and intellectual pleasures.” 2 p.m. Free. Sackler Gallery, Sublevel One.

Sunday August 26 The Illustrated Story of the Pan

The steel pan, the device behind that cool, hollow drum sound, is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, which celebrates its 50th anniversary of independence from Great Britain this year. Leading researcher of steel band history Kim Johnson discusses this unique musical heritage and explores links between the African drum and the older Carnival tradition of beating bits of metal for percussion. She will also demonstrate pan music. Book signing of The Illustrated Story of Pan follows. 2 p.m. Free. Anacostia Community Museum.