Edward Burtynsky
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Edward Burtynsky (born February 22, 1955) is a Canadian
photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...
and artist known for his large format photographs of industrial landscapes. His works depict locations from around the world that represent the increasing development of industrialization and its impacts on nature and the human existence. It is most often connected to the philosophical concept of the sublime, a trait established by the grand scale of the work he creates, though they are equally disturbing in the way they reveal the context of rapid industrialization. Burtynsky is the inaugural winner of the TED Prize for Innovation and Global Thinking in 2005. In 2016 he was the receiver of the
Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts The Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts are annual awards for achievements in visual and media arts in Canada. Up to eight awards are presented annually with the prize amount is $25,000 Created in 2000 by then Governor General Adrie ...
for his collection of works thus far. Burtynsky is an advocate for environmental conservationism and his work is deeply entwined in his advocacy. His work comments on the scars left by industrial capitalism while establishing an aesthetic for environmental devastation, the sublime-horrors discussed in a number of essays on the topic of his work. He sits on the board of ''Contact'', Toronto's international festival of photography.


Early life

Burtynsky was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, a blue-collar town where
General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
was the largest employer. His Father, Peter Burtynsky, was a Ukrainian immigrant who found work on the production line at the General Motors plant. When Burtynsky was 11 years old, his father purchased a darkroom and cameras from a widow whose late husband had practiced amateur photography. Burtynsky was given two rolls of Tri-X film and told to make do with that or support the habit through his own means. Along with learning black and white photography, he learned black and white print. This would prove to be useful in the development of his own business to support his new-found habit as he began photographing events and providing portraits at his local Ukrainian community center, charging 50 cents per photograph. With the money he made, he travelled throughout the countryside of St. Catharines photographing the "pristine landscapes" of his childhood. This is where he would later attribute his interest in pursuing landscape photography.


Education and early career

From the mid-1970s to early 1980s, Burtynsky formally studied graphic arts and photography. He obtained a diploma in graphic design from
Niagara College The Niagara College of Applied Arts and Technology (frequently shortened to Niagara College and branded as Niagara College Canada) is a public List of Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology, College of Applied Arts and Technology with ...
in Welland, Ontario, beginning his studies in 1974. After receiving his collegial diploma, he had not initially considered pursuing higher education, but quickly changed his mind when touring the Ryerson campus on a request from a former photography teacher of his. He enrolled and completed the four-year undergraduate program and obtained a Bachelor's in Photographic Arts (Media Studies Program) from
Ryerson Polytechnical Institute Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public university, public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Garden District, although i ...
in Toronto, Ontario, in 1982. Burtynsky's earliest works, now donated to Ryerson University's Image Center are primarily taken in locations across Ontario and Western Canada. Influenced by American photographers such as Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and Carleton Watkins, these works consist mostly of colored landscapes. Some of his earliest original landscape photographs such as ''Landscape Study #1, North Carolina, USA'' (1979) and ''Landscape Study #2, Ontario, Canada'' (1981) served as portfolio submissions for Ryerson and displayed traces of his early exploration into the main themes of his work: human control over nature. Burtynsky briefly worked in photography departments for IBM and the Ontario Hospital Association peri-graduation and in architecture post-graduation until in 1985, he founded Toronto Image Works, a studio space that doubled as a darkroom rental facility, custom photo laboratory and training center for digital and new media. Some of Burtynsky's breakout works post-graduation such as ''Breaking Ground: Mines, Railcuts and Homesteads'' (1983–85) and ''Vermont Quarries'' (1991-92) show a decisive transition toward the human impact themes that mark his later work. In many of these indicate an honest account of the ecology of human interaction and the pillaging of landscapes which include the dialogue between the human, machine and the earth.


Photography

Most of Burtynsky's exhibited photography (pre 2007) was taken with a
large format Large format refers to any imaging format of or larger. Large format is larger than "medium format", the or size of Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rollei, Kowa, and Pentax cameras (using 120- and 220-roll film), and much larger than the frame o ...
,
field camera A field camera is a view camera that can be folded in a compact size. Modern designs are little different from the first folding field cameras from the 19th century. In general they have more limited camera movements than monorail cameras, but ...
, on large 4×5-inch sheet film and developed into high-resolution, large-dimension prints of various sizes and editions ranging from 18 × 22 inches to 60 × 80 inches. He often positions himself at high-vantage points over the landscape using elevated platforms, the natural topography, and more currently drones, helicopters and
fixed-wing aircraft A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinc ...
. Burtynsky describes the act of taking a photograph in terms of "The Contemplated Moment", evoking and in contrast to, "The Decisive Moment" of
Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as cap ...
. He currently uses a high-resolution digital medium format camera. Burtynsky's photographic style is characterized by the sublime nature of the scale of his photographs. His large-format view camera depicts humanity's scarring on the landscapes he makes his subject, with "astonishing color and relentless detail", always focusing on the consequences of global consumerism. Burtynsky's photography places the viewer in a state of non-intervention with the environments depicted. While the viewer witnesses the consequences of radicalized consumerism, the viewer is left to quietly contemplate its political articulation: neither a condemnation nor a celebration of the subject matter, simply an acknowledgement of its existence, to create dialogue, not to dichotomize.


Manufactured Landscapes (2003)

Manufactured Landscapes is a collection of more than 60 large scale images, many as large as 48 by 60 inches, depicting Burtynsky's travels around the world capturing stunning transformations of nature into industrial landscapes. In 2003, Burtynsky developed a series of images conveying China's contemporary transformation into industrialization which was included as part of the exhibit. Using a 4×5
large format Large format refers to any imaging format of or larger. Large format is larger than "medium format", the or size of Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rollei, Kowa, and Pentax cameras (using 120- and 220-roll film), and much larger than the frame o ...
camera he presented the result of Western consumerism on the industrialization of China while depicting the effects of the environmental devastation caused by Chinese industrial ambitions in China. Burtynsky photographs sweeping views of landscapes altered by industry:
mine tailings In mining, tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different to overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overl ...
, quarries, scrap piles. The grandeur of his images is often in tension with the compromised environments they depict. He has made several excursions to China to photograph that country's industrial emergence, and construction of one of the world's largest engineering projects, the
Three Gorges Dam The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China, downstream of the Three Gorges. The Three Gorges Dam has been the world ...
.


Photographic series

*1983–1985 ''Breaking Ground: Mines, Railcuts and Homesteads'', Canada, USA *1991–1992 ''Vermont Quarries'', USA *1997–1999 ''Urban Mines: Metal Recycling'', Canada ''Tire Piles'', USA *1993–''Carrara Quarries'', Italy *1995–1996 ''Tailings'', Canada *1999-2010 ''Oil'' Canada, China, Azerbaijan, USA *2000–''Makrana Quarries'', India *2000–2001 Shipbreaking, Bangladesh *2004–2006 China *2006–Iberia Quarries, Portugal *2007–''Australian Mines'', Western Australia *2009–2013 ''Water'' Canada, USA, Mexico, Europe, Asia, Iceland, India *2016 ''Salt Pans'' *2014–2018 ''Anthropocene''


Other projects


Toronto Image Works

In 1985, Burtynsky established Toronto Image Works, a commercial photography lab, which has evolved into a facility that also offers darkroom rentals, equipment use and digital new-media courses. In 1986 the facility opened a gallery space which displays the work of local and international artists.


''Manufactured Landscapes (Documentary)''

In 2006, Burtynsky was the subject of the documentary film, ''
Manufactured Landscapes ''Manufactured Landscapes'' is a 2006 feature-length documentary film about the industrial landscape photography of Edward Burtynsky. It was directed by Jennifer Baichwal and is distributed by Zeitgeist Films. It was the first of three documentary ...
'', that was shown at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.


''Watermark''

Burtynsky and
Jennifer Baichwal Jennifer Baichwal is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, writer and producer. Biography Baichwal was born in Montreal, Quebec and raised in Victoria, British Columbia.
, who directed the 2006 documentary ''Manufactured Landscapes'', are co-directors of the 2013 documentary film'',
Watermark A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations ...
.'' The film is part of his five-year project, ''Water,'' focusing on the way water is used and managed.


''Anthropocene: The Human Epoch'' and ''The Anthropocene Project''

''The Anthropocene Project'' is a multidisciplinary body of work from collaborators
Nicholas de Pencier Nicholas de Pencier is a Canadian cinematographer and filmmaker. The spouse and professional partner of filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal in Mercury Films, he is the cinematographer and producer on most of her films as well as codirector of the films ' ...
, Burtynsky and Baichwal. Combining art, film, virtual reality, augmented reality, and scientific research, the project investigates human influence on the state, dynamic and future of the Earth.
Anthropocene The Anthropocene ( ) is a proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change. , neither the International Commissio ...
means a new era of geological time where human activity is the driving force behind environmental and geological change. In September 2018 '' Anthropocene: The Human Epoch'' made its world premiere at the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
(TIFF). In 2019 it won the
Rogers Best Canadian Film Award The Rogers Best Canadian Film Award is presented annually by the Toronto Film Critics Association to the film judged by the organization's members as the year's best Canadian film. In 2012, the cash prize accompanying the award was increased to $10 ...
at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2018. The filmmakers gave the $100,000 prize money to the runners-up and to TIFF's Share Her Journey initiative, which supports women in film. Two complementary exhibitions also debuted in September 2018 at the
Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...
and
National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...
. In 2019 the exhibition toured to Fondazione MAST in Bologna, Italy.


''In the Wake of Progress''

Burtynsky's ''In the Wake of Progress: Images of the Industrial Landscape'' has been a webcast in 2003, and a touring immersive multimedia experience, blending music, photography and film, in 2021-22.


Publications by Burtynsky

*''Oil.'' Göttingen:
Steidl Steidl is a German-language publisher, an international publisher of photobooks, and a printing company, based in Göttingen, Germany. It was started in 1968 by Gerhard Steidl and is still run by him. Overview The company was started by Ger ...
, 2005. . Edited by Marcus Schubert. With essays by Michael Mitchell, William E. Rees, and Paul Roth. "Published in conjunction with exhibitions held at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Oct. 3-Dec. 13, 2009 and Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography Amsterdam, Dec. 5, 2009-Feb. 28, 2010." *''China.'' Göttingen: Steidl. 2005. . With essays by Ted Fishman, Mark Kingwell,
Marc Mayer Marc Daniel Mayer (born 1956) is a Canadian arts manager and curator. He was formerly the strategic adviser at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto. Early life Mayer was born and raised in a Franco-Ontarian
, and Burtynsky. *''Manufactured Landscapes: The Photography of Edward Burtynsky.'' Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: National Gallery of Canada; New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2005. . Edited by Lori Pauli. With essays by Mark Haworth-Booth and Kenneth Baker, interview by Michael Torosian. *''Quarries.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2007. . With essays by Michael Mitchell, "More urgent than beauty," "Rock of Ages," "Three marble mountains," "Dying for beauty," "Buy low, sell low," and "Inverted architecture." *''Pentimento.'' Catalogue of an exhibition held at Flowers Central, London, 2010. *''Water.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2013. . Edited by Marcus Schubert. With essays by Wade Davis and Russell Lord. "Catalog of an exhibition held at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, Oct. 5, 2013-Jan. 19, 2014." *''Essential Elements.'' Thames & Hudson, 2016. . With essay by William A. Ewing. *''Salt Pans.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2016. . *''Anthropocene.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2018. . With essays by Jennifer Baichwal, Nick De Pencier, Suzaan Boettger, Jan Zalasiewicz, Colin Waters, Margaret Atwood.


Group exhibitions

*''Civilisation: The Way We Live Now'', Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Lausanne, 2022/23


Awards

*Member of the
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...
. *Honorary doctorate in Laws, from Mt. Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada *Honorary doctorate in Laws, from Queen's University, Kingston *Honorary doctorate in Fine Arts in Photography Study from Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University),
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
*Honorary doctorate in Fine Arts, from
Montserrat College of Art Montserrat College of Art is a private, non-profit art college located in Beverly within Essex County of Massachusetts. The school is accredited by both the New England Commission of Higher Education and the National Association of Schools of A ...
,
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
*2005:
TED Prize TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...
*2006: Officer of the
Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...
*2013:
Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchco ...
President's Medal. *2013:
Rogers Best Canadian Film Award The Rogers Best Canadian Film Award is presented annually by the Toronto Film Critics Association to the film judged by the organization's members as the year's best Canadian film. In 2012, the cash prize accompanying the award was increased to $10 ...
at the 2013 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards for ''Watermark'' (2013). *2014: Best Feature Length Documentary at the 2014
Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...
for ''Watermark'' (2013)."Canadian Screen Awards: Orphan Black, Less Than Kind, Enemy nominated"
CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...
, 13 January 2014.
*2016: List of Laureates of the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts,
Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the fede ...
, Ottawa, Canada *2018: Master of Photography,
Photo London Photo London is an annual photography event held at Somerset House in London in May.Photo London
...
, London *2018: Peace Patron Award by The Mosaic Institute, an NGO based in Toronto working to promote pluralism reducing conflict in Canada and abroad. *2019: Rogers Best Canadian Film Award for '' Anthropocene: The Human Epoch'' at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2018, a $100,000 prize *2019: Best Canadian Documentary Award for ''Anthropocene: The Human Epoch'' at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards 2018 *2020:Honorary Fellowship of the
Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...
, Bristol *2021: Outstanding Contribution to Photography, 2022 Sony World Photography Awards *2022: Induction into the
International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum The International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Louis, Missouri honors those who have made great contributions to the field of photography. History In 1977 the first Hall of Fame and Museum opened in Santa Barbara, California and a f ...
.


Collections

Burtynsky's work is held in the following permanent collection: *
National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...
, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: 122 works (as of February 2021)


See also

*
New Topographics "New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape" was a groundbreaking exhibition of contemporary landscape photography held at the George Eastman House's International Museum of Photography (Rochester, New York) from October 1975 to Febru ...


References


General references

*Granta, This overheating world. The Magazine of New Writing, 83. Fall 2003. Noah Richler: The Evidence of Man, Edward Burtynsky. p. 95. *''Before the Flood''. Essay by Gary Michael Dault. 2003
"Industrial China’s Ravaging of Nature, Made Disturbingly Sublime," The New York Times, Manohla Dargis, June 20, 2007.


Further reading

*


External links

*
"The Human Signature: Edward Burtynsky's Anthropocene – in pictures"
at ''The Guardian''
Manufactured Langscapes
''Ping Magazine''. An interview with Burtynsky interspersed with his photographs. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burtynsky, Edward 1955 births Living people Artists from St. Catharines Canadian photographers Officers of the Order of Canada Toronto Metropolitan University alumni Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Documentary Film Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts winners 20th-century Canadian artists 21st-century Canadian artists