"Our dependence on nature to provide the materials for our consumption and our concern for the health of our planet sets us into an uneasy contradiction. For me, these images function as reflecting pools of our times."
—Edward Burtynsky
Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist
Literature
National Gallery of Canada/Yale University Press, Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky, pl. 16
Universally termed 'industrial landscapes', Edward Burtynsky's photographs are rooted in the complex, symbiotic and, at times, destructive relationship we have with the earth. In depicting his subjects, Burtynsky balances an exacting, documentarian objectivity with a breathtakingly finessed beauty. His oversized works, whose subjects include quarries in Vermont, shipyards in China and oil refineries in Canada, have a sense of grandiosity and monumentality. There is an initial visual appeal of vibrant colors, details and scale; however, on closer inspection, the environmental dilemma unfolds. They are introspective and meditative, capturing a 'contemplative moment' where landscapes provide visual and emotional resonance.
Uranium Tailings #12, Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada
1995 Chromogenic print, printed 2012. 35 1/2 x 70 1/2 in. (90.2 x 179.1 cm) Signed in ink, printed title, date and number 5/6 on an artist's label affixed to the reverse of the flush-mount.