Economics-Edward Burtynsky

Edward Burtynsky

Photographer

by Kylee Jo Diedrich

Edward Burtynsky focuses on global industrial landscapes. His work began by photographing the General Motors plant in his hometown of Ontario, Canada when he was young. His work explores the human imprint on the natural landscape, not as a landscape photographer, but a photographer of human systems in the world. He uses aerial photography to capture visually stimulating and enticing images. Burtynsky's work is unique. He straps his expensive cameras to drones capturing the right aerial photograph, and exhibits extremely large scale prints. 

Thjorsà River, Iceland, 2012

Burtynsky does not frequently photograph untouched landscapes, however this Iceland image is one of a pristine landscape.  

Burtysnky's photographs are, in his own words,

"meant as metaphors to the dilemma of our modern existence; they search for a dialogue between attraction and repulsion, seduction and fear. We are drawn by desire - a chance at good living, yet we are consciously or unconsciously aware that the world is suffering for our success. Our dependence on nature to provide the materials for our consumption and our concern for the health of our planet sets us into an uneasy contradiction. For me, these images function as reflecting pools of our times." 

I think his photographs touch on the sense of time. The time it takes for oil to spread through a river, or for a river to dry up in a desert. Ironically, human influence on the land seems to take no time, yet it takes a very long time to recover the landscape, sometimes impossible. His work is extremely pertinent today.  I connect with this work because my work begins my understanding of the folly of human industrial activity on the land.

                                                     VeronaWalk

Naples, Florida, USA, 2012