For over 40 years Burtynsky’s camera has captured mountain ranges scarred and scooped from mining operations, roiling tar sand tailing ponds, and fractal river systems alight with red industrial sludge. His work is a catalogue of the awesome destructive power at the root of our industrial culture.

And yet, Burtynsky’s images are beautiful. That contradiction of beautiful destruction has fuelled the praise and criticism around Burtynsky for decades.

Ed Burtynsky’s is probably the biggest deal this country has every produced in terms of landscape photography. He’s won countless awards, he has nine honorary doctorate degrees, he’s an Officer of the Order of Canada, his work is collected and displayed in galleries around the world.

He joins us to unpack that career and the critique that frames his photography.

Credits: 

Host: Jesse Brown

Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Editor and Publisher)

Fact checking by Julian Abraham

Additional music by Audio Network

Further Reading

Ed Burtynsky Website

Inside China EV Factory - CNN

Earth’s Poet of Scale - New Yorker

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