By Bill Gates
Financial Times
Illustrated with photographs by Edward Burtynsky
Read the full article here.
Read MoreNEWS HUB
Interview with Edward Burtynsky | From the Mundane World: Launch Exhibition of He Art Museum
HE Art Museum
How did you illustrate the contrast between the spectacular landscape and the scattered vehicles and buildings in your work Highland Valley #8? What message are you trying to deliver?
Edward Burtynsky: The shot was created by working closely with a helicopter pilot, flying tight circles above the pit at the right distance. I wanted to convey the contemporary scale of copper mining and this was a mine that I’d originally photographed in 1983 before I was using aerial photography, and it had increased dramatically over the years since. As is consistent throughout much of my work, I try to connect the viewer to the places in the world where we get the materials that allow us to live a contemporary life. Like copper for computers, nickel to create stainless steel etc.
Read the full interview here.
Read MoreCBC Metro Morning with Ismaila Alfa
On December 2, recent Ryerson graduate Cole LeGree chats with Ismaila and reflects on the donation of Burtynsky’s early archives to the Ryerson Image Centre.
Read MoreHow an assignment at Ryerson inspired Edward Burtynsky's jaw-dropping industrial landscapes
CBC Radio - As it Happens
Edward Burtynsky sees the world from a different vantage point than most of us — quite literally. The St. Catharines, Ont.-born photographer has spent decades taking bird's-eye-view shots of tailings ponds, sawmills, potash mines, and garbage dumps.
But long before those shots from the air, he was taking photographs at ground level in Toronto as a student at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, now Ryerson University. This week, Burtynsky gifted 142 of those early photographs to his alma mater.
It's the first instalment of his multi-year donation to Ryerson, where he began his career in the late 1970s.
He spoke to As It Happens host Carol Off about how a school assignment at Ryerson got him hooked on capturing how humans were bending nature to their needs. Here's part of their conversation.
Listen to the full segment here.
Read MoreCanadian artist Edward Burtynsky to donate archives to Ryerson University
By Kate Taylor
The Globe & Mail
Canadian artist Edward Burtynsky is donating his archives to his old school, including even his student assignments. The Ryerson Image Centre announced Tuesday that the celebrated photographer is making a multiyear gift to the institution where he began his career in the 1970s, studying at the School of Image Arts at what is now Ryerson University. The gift will be made in several chronological parcels. The first part features 142 images made between 1976 and 1989, most not represented in public collections. These include early photographs of landscapes and city scenes submitted to his Ryerson photography instructors before Burtynsky achieved renown as a photographer of large-scale industrial landscapes. Later photographs of architecture and manufacturing include this image Holland Marsh, Ontario from the series Packing.
Read the full article here.
Read MoreVisionary Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky gifts career-spanning archive to the Ryerson Image Centre
November 24, 2020, Toronto — The Ryerson Image Centre (RIC) is proud to announce a multi-year donation of photographs by celebrated Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, whose iconic images have brought worldwide attention to the impacts of human industry on the natural landscape. The first installment of this gift comprises 142 photographs from the artist’s early career, a selection of which have been made public in a virtual gallery on the RIC’s website. Subsequent annual gifts will make the Toronto-based photography centre the most important global repository for the study of Burtynsky’s oeuvre.
Edward Burtynsky began his career in the late 1970s at the School of Image Arts of Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University). "It was important to me that my life’s work be housed in a Canadian institution, and it felt like a fitting 'homecoming' to entrust these works to the same place where I first developed as a photographer,” Burtynsky says. “The Ryerson Image Centre has become one of the leading museums in the world for photo historical research and has a growing collection of artist archives. I realized that there was no place I would rather have my work preserved and studied.”
Read the full press release here.
Read MoreFamed Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky donates his archives to Ryerson: ‘My work is a chronicle of how we’re transforming the land and bending it to our needs’
By Sue Carter
Toronto Star
Edward Burtynsky gifting his archives to the Ryerson Image Centre marks a circular journey for one of the world’s most esteemed contemporary photographers.
The downtown university has just announced the first instalment of his multi-year donation to its photographic gallery and research facility. It features 142 photos from Burtynsky’s early career, created between 1976 and 1989. Subsequent annual donations, to span three to five years, will add more chronological works from his five-plus decades of visually documenting how so-called human progress and industrial spread have environmentally devastated the planet.
As a young student from nearby suburban St. Catharines, Burtynsky was exposed to groundbreaking ideas at the School of Image Arts at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Along with art classes, Burtynsky studied sociology, psychology and film. He felt encouraged to take risks with his photography, thanks to energized faculty members such as Marta Braun, whom he credits with teaching him art history.
Read the full article here.
Read MoreHow I See the Bigger Picture
Edward Burtynsky: Honorary Fellowship
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.
Read MoreEdward 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 →
Read MoreJust 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.
Read MorePhotography 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.
Read MoreEdward 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.
Read MoreSNEAK 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.
Read MoreEdward Burtynsky In Conversation with Marta Braun
Metivier Gallery
Toronto, ON
On September 15 Edward Burtynsky and Marta Braun, F+PPCM Program Director at Ryerson University School of Image Arts, sat down at the Nicholas Metivier Gallery in Toronto to discuss Burtynsky’s latest body of work, Natural Order.
Read MoreThese 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.
Read MoreEdward 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.
Read MoreNatural 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.
Read MoreEdward 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.
Read More