Edward Burtynsky’s Water photos document the way mankind is changing the planet
No apologies are necessary if you’d never heard of Edward Burtynsky before Manufactured Landscapes (2006), the visually entrancing documentary by director Jennifer Baichwal.
WATER
Sundaram Tagore Gallery
No apologies are necessary if you’d never heard of Edward Burtynsky before Manufactured Landscapes (2006), the visually entrancing documentary by director Jennifer Baichwal. At once an art-house cinema favourite and a gentle reminder of mankind’s reckless destruction of nature, the film follows the Canadian photographer as he wanders a diversity of industrial landscapes for his large-format colour photographs.
More significantly, it introduced him to the world at large. When he is reminded of the film’s unexpectedly pivotal role in his career, Burtynsky — who was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006, before the film’s release — readily admits its influence. “That’s one thing I recognise and I agree with you completely,” says the celebrated photographer over the phone from Amsterdam, where he gave a keynote address at the World Press Photo headquarters.
“When the film was released, I had been showing for almost 25 years at museums and contemporary galleries, and I had books on my photography as well. But it wasn’t until the movie came out in 2006 that I recognised how far-reaching a motion picture can be. It reached a whole different audience to my fine art.”