By Michela Rosano
Canadian Geographic
At Young-Dundas Square, one of the most developed intersections in the country, an image of an old-growth forest is projected on every media screen, as a large crowd gathers. The lush greenery of the scene is the only “nature” that can be seen in this concrete space, save for a few small trees in planters along Yonge Street. The screens go dark and the show begins.
Read the full article here.
Read MoreBy Meghan Yuri Young
Now Playing Toronto
Internationally renowned Edward Burtynsky has devoted his career to documenting how our insatiable desire for consumption impacts our environment. Burtynsky’s most ambitious project takes him into uncharted territory as a visual artist to illustrate the devastation’s increased sense of urgency.
Read the full interview here.
Read MoreBy Mariam Matti
UofT News
Earlier in his career as a photographer and artist, Edward Burtynsky saw an opportunity to dedicate his life’s work to a single idea: humanity's impact on the planet.
In the 1980s, Burtynsky saw the growing sustainability challenges posed by the combination of heavy industry and billions of people.
His work would ultimately take him all over the world – and garner numerous awards and accolades – as he captured how humanity is reshaping the Earth through resource extraction, urban sprawl and manufacturing, to name a few.
Read the full article here.
Read MoreCuriocity
The whole immersive art experience might be a little played out in Toronto, but we definitely think this is an exception to the rule. Edward Burtynsky, who is one of Canada’s preeminent photographers and artists, is putting on a new experience called “In the Wake of Progress“.
Read the full article here.
Read MoreElsa Lam
Canadian Architect
Toronto’s Yonge Dundas Square is usually a canyon of advertising. But in a commission for this June’s Luminato festival, photographer Ed Burtynsky transformed the 22 screens in the square into a canvas for an immersive media piece entitled In the Wake of Progress.
Drawing on footage from Burtynsky’s 40 years of photography and film projects, the 20-minute wordless piece traces humanity’s fall from Eden: moving from old growth forests to lands swept barren by clear cuts, and thence to suburbs, skyscrapers, and slums. Burtynsky’s iconic images of mountain-deep Carrera marble quarries, post-industrial shipbreakers, and blood red copper tailing pools make an appearance, the latter set to an especially ominous passage of chanting in the cinematic soundtrack by Phil Strong.
Read the full article here.
Read MoreCBC Q with Tom Power
When Edward Burtynsky was a student, a teacher gave him an assignment that would change his life. He was told to go out and capture photographic evidence of humans. Burtynsky imagined what an alien would take photos of — the way humans have changed the planet on a massive scale — and it’s been his life’s work ever since. The Canadian photographer spoke with Tom Power about his biggest project yet, In the Wake of Progress, which highlights the ways humanity impacts the planet.
Listen here.
Read MoreChris Dart
CBC Arts
"In the Wake of Progress," the latest exhibit from photographic artist Edward Burtynsky, has been a long time coming — in more ways than one.
The exhibit — which is part of this year's Luminato Festival — consists of photos of human's impact on the world around them, selected from across Burtynsky's 40-plus year career. The pictures are displayed across 22 massive outdoor screens at Toronto's Yonge-Dundas Square, screens that usually show advertisements, and choreographed to music by composer Phil Strong.
It was also, in an alternate world, supposed to happen two years ago.
Read the full article here.
Read MoreCBC Radio | What on Earth
Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky has devoted much of his career to highlighting the ways humanity impacts the planet.
And he's setting out to do again with his latest art installation, In the Wake of Progress, which will take over all of the screens at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto this weekend. The project will include photography and film starting with verdant untouched forests followed by images of the many ways humans have impacted the planet with practices like mining and deforestation.
Burtynsky spoke to What On Earth host Laura Lynch in his studio in Toronto about his latest public art project and how his role as an artist and advocate for the environment has changed over the course of his career. Here is part of their conversation.
Listen to the interview and read the Q&A here.
Read MoreBy Laura Decarufel
The Kit
As a culture, we’ve long relied on artists to both interpret our existing reality and to light a path to the future. Edward Burtynsky, 67, has been acting as such a prophet for 40 years. In his large-scale photographs of shipyards in China, logged forests in B.C. and African landfills dotted with Dollarama bags, he captures both the majestic beauty of our world—and the scale of the problems facing it.
Burtynsky’s latest project, “In the Wake of Progress,” is an immersive installation and a cri de coeur about the threat of climate change. (It debuts in June as part of Toronto’s Luminato arts festival and will then travel internationally.) The installation is two-pronged: a public art piece in Yonge-Dundas Square and a considerably more private experience, where viewers sit in a darkened room surrounded by three massive screens showing still photos and video—taken by Burtynsky across his career, around the world—all set to music that is alternately menacing and hopeful, courtesy of birdsong from ancient B.C. forests. As a career retrospective, it’s impressive. As a work of art, it’s beautiful, heartbreaking, galvanizing.
Read the full interview here.
Read MoreHosted by Ben Luke and Tom Seymour
This Week in Art |The Art Newspaper
This week, our associate editor Tom Seymour talks to the photographer Edward Burtynsky as he is recognised for his Outstanding Contribution to his medium in the Sony World Photography Awards. He discusses the Russian invasion and his Ukrainian heritage.
Listen here.
Read MoreCBC Radio
As It Happens
When Edward Burtynsky was honoured for his contribution to photography on Tuesday, he decided to share the spotlight with Ukrainians who are documenting the war with their cameras.
Burtynsky, a Canadian photographer of Ukrainian descent, won the prize for outstanding contribution to photography at the Sony World Photography Awards in London.
Read the Q&A and listen to the episode here.
Read MoreBy Kate Taylor
The Globe and Mail
“Photography embodies truth in a way that transcends language, culture, borders, and time. In the face of fake news and Putin’s vicious disinformation campaign, Ukrainian photographers are using this moment to show the world the truth.
“Their dedication to their art, even as their towns are surrounded by invading Russian forces bringing terror to their doorsteps, is a bravery that humbles me.
“Photography is about light conquering darkness. And as we speak, Ukrainian photographers are conquering an unimaginable form of darkness. I can think of no more outstanding contribution to photography than that.”
Read the article here.
Read MoreFront Row
BBC Radio 4
After being announced as the recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award at the Sony World Photography Awards 2022, the Canadian photographer and artist Edward Burtynsky talks to Tom about his 40-year career as a landscape photographer.
Listen to the episode here.
Read MoreBy Jeremy Nuttall
Toronto Star
One of Canada’s foremost photographic artists is raising money for humanitarian relief in Ukraine by giving a special print of a famous work to the first 30 people who show him a $10,000 receipt for a donation to the Red Cross’s humanitarian relief for the country.
Read the full article here.
Read MoreCampus Beat!
CFRC
Welcome back to another great edition of Campus Beat! On January 18th 2022, Queen’s University announced a new creative partnership with world-renowned Canadian photographer, and Queen’s Honorary Doctorate recipient (2007), Edward Burtynsky to help realize his new public art piece titled Standing Whale.
Listen to the full podcast episode here.
Read MoreQueen’s University is proud to announce a partnership with world-renowned Canadian photographer, and Queen’s Honorary Doctorate recipient (2007), Edward Burtynsky to help realize his new public art piece titled Standing Whale.
Read the full press release here.
Read MoreBy Kate Brown
Artnet
Canadian artist Edward Burtynsky is sort of like a sleuth: He produces evidence of humans’ impact on the planet. Gaining access to hard-to-reach places in our world—tar sands, nickel mines, sawmills, or shipyards—Burtynsky culls poignant imagery to show us how we have transformed the earth around us at a vast and debilitating scale. There is a cost to modern life and its massive, if usually just out of view.
At a time when the climate is finally starting to rear from the effects of industry, his work has become even more urgent. It is no great surprise then the artist, who is based in Toronto, was recently awarded this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography by the World Photography Organization. His work will be on view at the 2022 Sony World Photography Awards exhibition at Somerset House in London beginning April 15, 2022.
Read the full article here.
Read More