Edward Burtynsky: African Studies
Flowers Gallery, London
14 October - 19 November 2022
Sishen Iron Ore Mine #5, Tailings, Kathu, South Africa, 2018
Pigment Inkjet Print on Kodak Professional Photo Paper
© Edward Burtynsky
courtesy of Flowers Gallery, London and
Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto
Desert Spirals #4, Verneukpan, Northern Cape, South Africa, 2018
Pigment Inkjet Print on Kodak Professional Photo Paper
© Edward Burtynsky
courtesy of Flowers Gallery, London and
Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto
“I’m finding new visual resonances emerging while photographing in Africa. As I evolve my use of the aerial perspective, in these recent pictures I am surveying two very distinct aspects of the landscape: that of the earth as something intact, undisturbed yet implicitly vulnerable... and that of the earth as opened up by the systematic extraction of resources.” - Edward Burtynsky
Flowers Gallery presents an exhibition of new work by Edward Burtynsky produced across the African continent between 2015-2019.
Edward Burtynsky’s works chronicle the major themes of terraforming, extraction, agriculture and urbanization, developing a long-standing preoccupation with the unsettling reality of the human imprint on the planet.
In African Studies, Edward Burtynsky reflects on landscapes undergoing rapid industrial and manufacturing expansion. Focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa, his images present environments shaped by processes of resource extraction, from the salt pans of Senegal to the ‘residual landscapes’ of mechanized extraction such as Sishen Iron Ore Mine #5, Tailings, Kathu, South Africa, 2018. Images of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD #8, Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia, 2019) reflect an ongoing enquiry into the global theme of water and its related environmental and geo-political impacts.
Alongside industrialised landscapes, Edward Burtynsky presents images of the pristine natural environment as a reminder of its fragility and finitude, such as the rich sculptural topography of Sand Dunes #3, Sossusvlei, Namib Desert, Namibia, 2018; and the unaltered ecosystem of the Rift Valley in northern Kenya in Flamingos #1, Lake Bogoria, 2017.
Photographed predominantly from aerial viewpoints, Edward Burtynsky’s works often have a flattened frontal aspect, transforming the image into sumptuously graduating colour fields or vigorous grid-like compositions, strikingly reminiscent of Modernist abstraction. Presented at a large scale, and with compelling detail, their painterly surfaces and gestural marks reveal the coalescing designs of both nature and human infrastructure. Edward Burtynsky’s perpetual search for abstraction within the landscape navigates a fine balance between form and content. He describes this dualistic approach as “keeping two doors open” for the viewer to enter the work - leading an enquiry into the expansive subject matter, while exploring the image as a mode of intuitive sensory expression.
This exhibition coincides with the expected publication of African Studies, a new book by Edward Burtynsky by Steidl (Not yet published).
African Studies
Publisher: Steidl, 2022
208 pages, 154 images
Hardback / Clothbound, 36.4 x 28.8 cm
ISBN 978-3-96999-145-9
Book Cover © Edward Burtynsky / Steidl
EDWARD BURTYNSKY
Edward Burtynsky’s works are in the collections of over sixty museums around the world, including Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim, New York; Tate, London; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; and the National Gallery of Canada. Exhibitions have included Anthropocene (2018), which premiered simultaneously at the Art Gallery of Ontario and National Gallery of Canada before travelling to Manifattura di Arti, Sperimentazione e Tecnologia (MAST), Bologna in Spring 2019; Water (2013) at the New Orleans Museum of Art & Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, Louisiana (international touring exhibition); Oil (2009) at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. (five-year international touring show), China (toured 2005 - 2008); Manufactured Landscapes at the National Gallery of Canada (touring from 2003 - 2005); and Breaking Ground produced by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (touring from 1988 - 1992).
Edward Burtynsky and filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier have created a trilogy of films - Manufactured Landscapes (2006), Watermark (2013), and Anthropocene. Edward Burtynsky received the inaugural TED Prize in 2005; and won the Tiffany Mark award in 2012. In 2006, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada; and in 2016 he received the Governor General’s Award for Visual Arts. He holds six honorary doctorate degrees. His distinctions also include the National Magazine Award; MOCCA award; Outreach Award at Rencontres d’Arles; ICP Infinity Award; the Kraszna Krausz Book Award; and was honoured as Master of Photography at Photo London in 2018; and Outstanding Contribution to Photography at the Sony World Photography Awards in 2022.
His recently released project In the Wake of Progress, a fully choreographed blend of photographs and film from his 40-year career premiered as a public art piece in Yonge-Dundas Square, Toronto, ON, Canada in June 2022 as part of the Luminato Festival, and was transformed into a new indoor immersive experience from June 25 – July 17, 2022 at the Canadian Opera Company Theatre, Toronto, ON, Canada. In the Wake of Progress will embark on a global tour beginning Autumn 2022.
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21 Cork Street, London W1S 3LZ
