Ludwig Museum
Koblenz, Germany

On display are examples from his recent series ‘Aqua Shock’, for which Burtynsky crisscrossed five continents to explore extreme ecological situations and to record not only the reserves, but the use, distribution and waste of water. He reveals the dangers that lie in the ongoing exploitation of water resources. In his own words: ‘I wanted to trace the evidence of global thirst and threatened sources. Water is part of a pattern I’ve watched unfold throughout my career. I document landscapes that, whether you think of them as beautiful or monstrous, or as some strange combination of the two, are clearly not vistas of an inexhaustible, sustainable world.’– Edward Burtynsky (Walrus, October 2013).