NEWS HUB

Pandemic puts into question future return to cities: Edward Burtynsky

Bloomberg Markets

Edward Burtynsky, Canadian photographer, joins BNN Bloomberg to talk about how the pandemic has impacted urban communities. He says that it will be complicated to see the future of cities as many people have moved away from urban centres with remote work amid the pandemic.

Watch the segment here.

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Edward Burtynsky Awarded Royal Photographic Society 2020 Honorary Fellowship

We are delighted to announce the 2020 recipients of the Royal Photographic Society Awards, celebrating excellence and innovation in photography.

Now in its 142nd year, the eighteen categories recognise those individuals who have made outstanding contributions in their fields which cover art, science, education, curation, film and publishing.

“The RPS Awards are unique in recognising individuals across the breadth of the photographic medium. They acknowledge significant contributions from established women and men as well as showcasing a new generation of image-makers using photography as a vehicle for activism, engagement and change.”

– Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS, Director of Education and Public Affairs

Congratulations to all the recipients. Read a special edition of the RPS Journal, explore our new series of events with past and present recipients beginning January 2021, and find out more about the Awards here

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Just announced: Future Cities Canada welcomes Edward Burtynsky to #UnexpectedSolutions

Future Cities Canada

A Conversation with Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky and Globe & Mail visual art critic Kate Taylor kicks off the first week of Future Cities Canada: #UnexpectedSolutions, a six-week virtual city-building gathering showcasing the best-of in innovation in cities from across Canada and around the world. The free public talk takes place on Tuesday, October 20, 2020 at 10 a.m. and is the first of three new thought-provoking conversations presented as part of the TD Future Cities Speaker Series, a program supported by TD Bank Group through its corporate citizenship platform, The Ready Commitment. Launched in 2018, this series presents ideas from some of the world’s leading minds in urban systems; this year’s topics explore themes ranging from climate adaptability and placemaking to housing and infrastructure.

Read the full press release here.

Register for free here.

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Photography and Sustainability

The Pictet Group
Found In Conversation (Podcast)

Can photography encourage sustainability? In this episode Renaud de Planta, Pictet’s Senior Managing Partner, explores the power of the image with Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, who has dedicated his life to documenting the impact of economies on the environment. This special episode is hosted by Isabelle von Ribbentrop, the Pictet Group’s Global Head of Branding, Advertising and Sponsoring.

Listen to the episode here.

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Edward Burtynsky In Conversation with Cameron Bailey

Metivier Gallery
Toronto, ON

On September 24, Edward Burtynsky and Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director & Co-Head at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), spoke at the Nicholas Metivier Gallery on the subject of Burtynsky's Natural Order exhibition and the importance of his documentary film work.

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SNEAK PEEK: Edward Burtynsky

Galleries West

Edward Burtynsky has travelled the globe photographing dramatic scenes of environmental change – a massive dam project in China, a stark lithium mine in Chile, a polluted ship-breaking site on the coast of Bangladesh.

But the pandemic’s mandatory lockdown last spring saw the Toronto photographer retreat to the woods of the Bruce Peninsula along the southern shore of Georgian Bay.

It was here, during the uncertainty and devastating losses wrought by another global traveller, the new coronavirus that's hitching a ride on human carriers, that Burtynsky created a series of photographs that speak to nature’s power of renewal.

Read the full article here.

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These Eye-Opening Photos Show The Impact Of Humans On The Environment

By Kate Bubacz
BuzzFeed News

Edward Burtynsky, a legendary landscape photographer, has spent the past three decades looking at how resources are used and the impact of humans on the environment around the globe. He collaborated with Nicholas de Pencier and Jennifer Baichwal on his newest project, Anthropocene, which combines scientific research with film, virtual reality, augmented reality, and photographs, and is also available as a book.

The photographs from the project are both haunting and eye-opening, offering a unique perspective on the collective result of decisions around the globe. "I have come to think of my preoccupation with the Anthrocepene — the indelible marks left by humankind on the geological face of our planet — as a conceptual extension of my first and most fundamental interests as a photographer" he says in the book's introduction.

Read the interview here.

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Edward Burtynsky’s new exhibit of photos taken in quarantine opens this month in Toronto

By Jessica Padykula
TRNTO

Much like the rest of us, photographer Edward Burtynsky found himself under lockdown as the Coronavirus pandemic took hold. And he used that time to turn his camera lens toward the world around him; specifically, Grey County, Ontario.

The photos taken during that time, shot using a new camera that captures remarkable detail and density, have come together in a new exhibition titled Natural Order that will make its debut at Nicholas Metivier Gallery this month.

This is not the first time Burtynsky has turned his lens on Grey County, having photographed the area in the early 1980s. His return to this subject almost 40 years later recalls Burtynsky’s earliest works as a photographer.

Read the full article here.

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Natural Order: Edward Burtynsky's new exhibition unveiled in Toronto

By Angelica Haggert
Canadian Geographic

Instead of his usual busy schedule of speaking engagements and content creation, this spring, photographer and RCGS Fellow Edward Burtynsky found himself locked down in Grey County, Ont., due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Turning the lockdown into an opportunity, Burtynsky headed out into the surrounding forests, close to lakes and rivers, with a brand new camera in hand, to focus on nature.

The result is a new series titled Natural Order, on display this September at the Metivier Gallery in Toronto. The exhibition recalls Burtynsky's earliest works as a photographer. He spoke with Canadian Geographic about his pandemic photography.

Read the full article here.

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Edward Burtynsky Exhibition Reveals the Artistry of Canadian Landscapes

By Ayesha Habib
NUVO Magazine

Famed for his sweeping, visually-striking images of industrial landscapes–including award winning climate documentary Anthropocene: The Human Epoch—Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky’s latest body of work is a study of his own backyard. Natural Order, exhibited by the Nicholas Metivier Gallery in Toronto, will be on view in the gallery and online from September 3 until September 26.

Featuring photographs taken while in isolation during the early days of the pandemic in Grey County, Ontario, Natural Order presents immensely detailed scenes of a thawing Canadian forest. The sharp contrasts of colour and texture lend the photographs an abstract painterly quality, tricking the eye and inviting the viewer to gaze deeper into their rich depths. “I find myself gazing into an infinity of apparent chaos, but through that selective contemplation, an order emerges—an enduring order that remains intact regardless of our own human fate,” says the photographer in a statement. Burtynsky first photographed the same area 40 years ago, and his return during the pandemic marks a full circle of the photographer’s career.

Read the full article here.

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"Art on the Verge" - Episode #6: Bryce Wolkowitz in Conversation With Edward Burtynsky

‘74PODCAST

“To me, as an artist, engagement with art is the first step to communication.” – Edward Burtynsky⁣⁣

In this episode, Founder and Director of the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery Bryce Wolkowitz, and Environmental Photographer Edward Burtynsky discuss his early inspirations, his first darkroom experience, the composition within the frame, current state of the art institutions, as well as his latest project "Natural Order." ⁣

Listen to the episode on:

Spotify

Google Podcasts

Apple Podcasts

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How Is “Photography 3.0” Helping Us Experience the World in a Post COVID Society?

RBC Disruptors

The COVID-19 crisis has redefined the way we experience the world around us, but long before that, advances in augmented and virtual reality were beginning to allow audiences to view the world through a new lens. In this episode of RBC Disruptors, John Stackhouse speaks to iconic Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky and his business partner and gaming expert, Vikas Gupta about how we can use technology to enhance the human experience in a post-COVID society.

Read the full post and listen to the podcast here.

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Photo London Issue 01: Edward Burtynsky

A Photo London Academy Production

Photo London is delighted to launch our inaugural e-magazine with a feature on Canadian fine art photographer Edward Burtynsky. Renowned for his monumental aerial photographs documenting the “indelible human signature” on our planet, Burtynsky was also Photo London’s Master of Photography in 2018, during which he presented a special exhibition of new and rarely seen works exploring diverse subjects such as urbanisation, industrialisation and extraction, as well as a newly developed Augmented Reality (AR) experience. For this first issue of our e-magazine, Burtynsky has shared his personal, intimate reflections on the current global crisis; a crisis that has certainly left its mark on the history of mankind, ironically not dissimilar to the man-made effects of urbanisation and deforestation on nature that are chronicled in Burtynsky’s oeuvre.

Read Issue 01 here.

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17 Photo Books Perfect For Armchair Travels

By Sarah Leen
National Geographic

If you’re doing your duty and staying home—but getting tired of binge-watching, baking, and seeing your friends on a screen—there’s a clever way to do some armchair traveling, meet cool animals, and discover stories that might touch your heart.

I’m talking about what my mother called “picture books.”

Every photographer I know wants their images published in a book. It gives their work the validation and permanence they just can’t get from a screen. You can’t fall in love with a website the way you can with a book. Here are some of my favorite books that you can order from an online bookseller.

Read the full article here.

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An Earth Day Message from Edward Burtynsky

Right now the message of Earth Day, on its 50th anniversary, seems more urgent than ever. There’s no doubt that the ravenous human appetite to conquer nature has compelled us to encroach on natural habitats and biodiversity in an ever-expanding way, and that this has led us to where we are today — isolated at home with a new pathogen determined to wreak global havoc. It seems the paradigm has shifted: where humans once had our collective boot on nature’s neck, we now find ourselves with nature’s boot firmly pressed against ours.

Gerhard Richter once said that “art is the highest form of hope” and my hope is that during this time in isolation I am able to create a suite of images, going back to my roots and looking at nature, with proceeds going directly to support the art sector in Canada.

The arts have taken an oversized hit during these times and will continue to suffer enormously because of this crisis. And yet, it is the artists, musicians, filmmakers and performers to whom we are all turning for catharsis, relaxation, distraction, entertainment and, perhaps most importantly, hope. Artists now need our support as much as we need theirs.

I do not know what the next few months will bring, but in this time of isolation and contemplation, I can be assured of one very important thing: the future of life on this planet rests in our hands. There may one day soon be a vaccine for this virus, but there is no vaccine for climate change.

Until such a time as life can return to something we are a little more familiar with, please stay safe and be well.

– Ed

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On Earth Day, photographer Edward Burtynsky reflects on our duty as stewards of nature

By Edward Burtynsky
The Globe & Mail

It feels a little surreal to be commemorating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day in the middle of this unprecedented global crisis. Admittedly, I had envisioned this day much differently, yet with COVID-19 forcing us all into isolation, the message of Earth Day seems more urgent than ever.

My 40-year career as an artist has taken me on a journey around our planet in search of the largest examples of human systems expressed upon the land and sea. I have been to many places that very few of us have any reason to go – the places where we wrest out the things we need from nature to propel our human destiny. My first trip to China in 2002 took me to Wuhan en route to photograph along the Yangtze River, where entire cities and landscapes were being commandeered and flattened to make way for the building of the Three Gorges Dam. So, when the pictures first emerged of the coronavirus lockdown in Wuhan months ago, never did I imagine seeing cities being shut down in this new and devastating way – or that we would soon experience this contagion all over the world.

There’s no doubt that the ravenous human appetite to conquer nature has compelled us to encroach on natural habitats and biodiversity in an ever-expanding way, and that this has led us to where we are today – isolated at home, with a new pathogen determined to wreak global havoc. It seems the paradigm has shifted: Where humans once had our collective boot on nature’s neck, we now find ourselves with nature’s boot firmly pressed against ours.

Read the full article here.

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Famed artist Burtynsky turns his talents to making 3D masks for COVID-19 fight

By Shinan Govani
Toronto Star

Peering at it all through the Lewis Carroll-like looking-glass of Instagram, shortly after catching up on “Top Chef,” I stumbled upon the feed of one of Toronto’s best-travelled people, Edward Burtynsky. Interesting! A J.M.W. Turner for our time (as he has been called), the marquee photographer — known for his sweeping industrial landscapes which rest in collections ranging everywhere from the Tate to the Guggenheim, and which have earned Burtynsky enough of a following to warrant an extensive profile in The New Yorker a few years back — he is grounded, these days, like most of us. But has been making the best of it. Actually making, I should say.

Read the full article here.

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