By Alena Vo
The Concordian
On the evening of Jan. 22, the Hall building was abuzz with activity. Outside the auditorium, a line snaked from one end of the room to the other. Everyone was there for one purpose: to listen to Edward Burtynsky speak about his work.
The landscape photographer sat down in conversation with Zoë Tousignant, the curator of photography at the McCord Stewart Museum. He was this year's guest for the Wild Talks Lecture Series, an annual event hosted in honor of Catherine Wild, the former dean of Concordia's Faculty of Fine Arts.
Burtynsky originally hails from St. Catharines, Ontario, where he began taking pictures at age 12. Since then, he's grown from “the kid with the camera” to a world-renowned photographer riding helicopters to capture breathtaking shots of the Earth, or more accurately, of the scars we've left upon it.
Read the full article here.
Read MoreBy Jackie Rourke
Concordia University
Edward Burtynsky, internationally renowned for his large-scale photographs that illustrate the impact of human industry on the planet, says the goal of his art has always been to evoke a sense of wonder and curiosity.
Burtynsky was invited to Concordia on January 22 as part of the university’s 50th anniversary to deliver the annual Wild Talks lecture. Photos from the event can be viewed on Flickr.
In his sold-out talk, delivered before an audience of 650 guests in the Sir George Williams University Alumni Auditorium, Burtynsky discussed the evolution of his celebrated career with moderator Zoë Tousignant, BFA 03, PhD 13, curator of photography at the McCord Stewart Museum.
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Read MoreBy Katherine Fawcewtt
Whistler Traveller
Art is a powerful force with endless outcomes. Its beauty can inspire and uplift. Its message can provoke, entertain, and enlighten. And its poignancy can also be a sobering call to action.
The internationally acclaimed, Toronto-based artist and photographer Edward Burtynsky knows these forces well. His images, while stunning to look at, feature serious themes that cannot be ignored. Over the past 40 years, Burtynsky has focused his lens on the impact human industry has had upon the earth. The Audain Art Museum’s (AAM) upcoming exhibition, The Coast Mountains: Recent Works by Edward Burtynsky, will provide a spectacular bird’s-eye view of the splendour of the local environment while highlighting the issue of shrinking glaciers because of climate change.
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Read MoreCBC Ottawa Morning
The performance blends dance, music and the photography of Edward Burtynsky. He and choreographer Andrea Peña joined Hallie in the studio the morning after the world premiere.
Listen to the interview here.
Read MoreMusée Magazine, Issue 29
For decades, Ed Burtynsky has been exploring and unearthing the intricacies of our planet's relationship with humanity. Hovering like an out-of-this-world entity above mines, forests, and more, turning them into abstract vistas, seemingly untouched by human presence yet imbued with the undeniable marks of our existence. Through his work, he reveals a dichotomy, highlighting our profound reliance on Earth's resources while simultaneously acknowledging the devastating toll our actions take on the very world that nurtures us. Whether investigating the landscapes of agriculture or peering down at the geometrical patterns of pivot irrigation, his work thrusts us into the Anthropocene, a geological era defined by humankind's profound influence on the planet's climate and ecosystems. Coming from the rural expanses of Canada, he carries an unbreakable, personal bond with nature. This connection transcends the ordinary and resonates deeply within the vast and complex realm of ecosystems.
Read the full interview here.
Read MoreBy Charlotte Metcalf
Country & Town House
Having seen Edward Burtynsky’s recent retrospective at the Saatchi Gallery, I am eager to meet him. When he arrives, he appears upbeat for someone who has spent much of his life creating images out of the catastrophically destructive impact of industrialisation.
From a distance many of his images look like huge, beautiful, expressionist paintings. Move closer and you see they are photographs, which appear to have been taken from miles up, showing landscapes decimated by humanity’s activity – logging, mining, quarrying, railways, rubbish dumping, ship-breaking, intensive agriculture, building. The beauty he finds in destruction comprises the central ambiguity at his work’s core, imbuing it with persuasive power that urges us to take the necessary drastic action to save our planet.
Read the interview here.
Read MoreCBC Radio: The Sunday Magazine
[Re-release from original interview in September 2023] After more than 40 years photographing the industrial sublime around the world, Canadian artist Edward Burtynsky's new project brings him home to St. Catharines, Ont. He's taking an abandoned relic – a 68,000-kilogram sheet metal forge from the former General Motors auto plant, where both Burtynsky and his father worked – and turning it into a sculpture memorializing the industry and people that once drove life in his hometown. He joins Piya Chattopadhyay to talk about his upbringing, the resource industries that define his career and his ongoing work to make audiences connect his beautiful images to the rapid destruction of our planet.
Listen to the full interview here.
Read MoreNational Geographic Italia
An unprecedented retrospective of the forty-year career of Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky is open to the public until January 12, 2025 at the Museo del 900 (M9) in Mestre (VE).
After the successful debut at the Saatchi Gallery in London, the exhibition BURTYNSKY: Extraction / Abstraction has landed in Italy. As expected given the environmentalist background of this photographer, the exhibition focuses on the environmental consequences of human actions, especially industry, on the landscape.
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Read MoreBy Tim Fujio
Setting Mind
The M9 – Museo del ‘900 in Venice Mestre is set to showcase “BURTYNSKY: Extraction/Abstraction,” the largest solo exhibition of Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, from June 21, 2024, to January 12, 2025. Curated by Marc Mayer and designed by Alvisi Kirimoto, the exhibition provides an in-depth look at Burtynsky’s extensive work documenting the environmental impacts of human activity.
Read the full article here.
Read MoreBy Georgia Magrin
Exibart
Burtynsky: Extraction/Abstraction is the largest exhibition ever held in the over 40-year career of the great Canadian artist Edward Burtynsky . Curated by Marc Mayer, director of the National Gallery of Canada and the Musée d'Art Contemporain in Montreal, this exhibition, after debuting at the Saatchi Gallery in London, comes to Italy for the first time.
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Read MoreBy Katherine Ylitalo
Galleries West
“If you are going to have only one Burtynsky book, this is the one.” Upon this recommendation from a knowledgeable friend, I dove into the latest book on the work of world-renowned Canadian photographer, Edward Burtynsky. The new take on his 45-year career accompanies the exhibition Edward Burtynsky: Extraction/Abstraction at the Saatchi Gallery, which was shown Feb. 14 to May 6, 2024, in London, and will travel to Italy later this summer.
Read the full review here.
Read MoreThe Oldie Podcast
Charlotte Metcalf is a journalist, editor, award-winning documentary film-maker and was co-presenter of the Break Out Culture podcast. She is Subscriptions Editor and a frequent contributor at The Oldie.
Edward Burtynsky is a Canadian artist and photographer and award-winning film-maker. A recent major retrospective at London’s Saatchi Gallery showed his large format photographs, many vast, of industrial landscapes all over the world. While they resemble beautiful abstract paintings, they depict industrialisation’s devastating impact on nature and human existence.
Listen to the episode here.
Read MoreA Lens on Sustainability
Prix Pictet
Renowned for his large format photographs of industrial landscapes, acclaimed Prix Pictet shortlisted photographer and jury member Edward Burtynsky has spent a lifetime capturing the scale and magnitude of human impact on its environment. In this special mini-documentary and podcast, we discuss his journey into Anthropocene photography, traversing the globe in search of landscapes marred by human intervention. Watch the short video and listen to the podcast to learn more about his work, which serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need to address the climate crisis.
Listen to the podcast episode here.
Read MoreMcGill Reporter
Luminaries in their fields, this year’s Hon Docs will be honoured during Spring 2024 Convocation ceremonies, running from May 28 to June 5.
Ten exceptional individuals will receive honorary degrees from McGill as part of Spring 2024 Convocation ceremonies. This year’s recipients represent a diverse array of leaders whose contributions span disciplines, industries, and continents.
Read the full list here.
Read MoreBy Asmaa Toor
TMU The Creative School
The Creative School's renowned alumnus and Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky displayed his exhibit Extraction / Abstraction at Saatchi Gallery in London, UK. The exhibition, which ran from mid-February to early May, featured 94 of Burtynsky’s large-format photographs as well as 13 high-resolution murals, and an augmented reality (AR) experience.
Read the full article here.
Read MoreGlobal TV Vancouver
The powerful images captured by an award-winning Canadian photographer are raising attention to the human-cause damage to the planet. Edward Burtynsky talks about his latest show and what he hopes to accomplish with it.
Watch the interview here.
Read MoreBy Matt Growcoot
PetaPixel
Photographer Edward Burtynsky has spent his career capturing stunning large format photographs that — despite their beauty — actually show the damage that’s being done to the planet.
His incredible photographs are currently on exhibit at the Saatchi Gallery in London where he is making use of large format by displaying enormous prints of his arresting work.
Read the full article here.
Read MoreBy Tabish Khan
FAD Magazine
Tabish Khan the @LondonArtCritic picks his Top 5 Art Exhibitions to see in London Post-Easter. Each one comes with a concise review to help you decide whether it’s for you. If you’re looking for museum exhibitions to visit, check out last week’s top 5 where all three remain open to visit.
Read the full article here.
Read MoreBy Helen Gordon
Apollo Magazine
Crawford Lake is around an hour’s drive from Toronto, home of the photographer Edward Burtynsky. Scientists studying sediment layers in the lake have found samples of plutonium from hydrogen bomb tests, carbon particles from fossil fuel burning and nitrates from the mass application of chemical fertilisers. Some want the lake to become an international reference point marking the dawn of the Anthropocene – the period when the human species began to alter the planet irrevocably, becoming a geological force comparable to immense volcanic eruptions or the variations in the Earth’s orbit that drive glacial cycles.
Like these scientists, Burtynsky has long been fascinated by the effects of large-scale human activity on the landscape, especially industry and agriculture. His Anthropocene series (2012–17) and accompanying documentary of 2018 did much to popularise the term beyond the scientific community, and ‘Abstraction/Extraction’ – his sumptuous, thoughtful new retrospective at the Saatchi Gallery – continues this line of inquiry.
Read the full review here.
Read MoreIsa Soares Tonight
CNN
CNN's Isa Soares speaks with photographer Edward Burtynsky about his exhibit at Saatchi Gallery, London on climate change, which highlights nature's beauty and our destruction of it.
Watch the full interview here.
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