Edward Burtynsky
Artist statement
“When we destroy nature, we diminish ourselves.
We impoverish our children…I don’t want my
children to grow up in a world where…we’ve
lost touch with the seasons and the tides
and the things that connect us to the 10,000
generations of human beings that were here
before there were laptops”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr (speech, Sierra Club
Summit, San Francisco, September 20, 2005)
These thoughts closely echo my own sentiments
about the kind of world we leave for future
generations. It is my belief that using a variety
of communications, a widespread effort to
inform the global populous, its corporations
and governments, is critical to inspiring
responsible dialogue regarding the effect an
industrial global economy has on our planet.
Through creative production I have found a
means by which I can add my voice in support
of a viable civilization. I feel an urgency to help
make people aware that what we give to the
future are the choices we make today.
Only one percent of China’s water supply is
potable. In fact, over fifty percent of all rivers
in that country are polluted to such an extent
that it is considered dangerous to put one’s
hand in them. That toxic water finds it way
to our oceans, the food of which we all share.
For each barrel of oil recovered from the tar
sands in Alberta, Canada, three barrels of
contaminated water – required to separate
that oil from sand – are pumped into tailing
ponds that closely border fresh water rivers.
Eighty-five percent of all manufactured goods
are sent across oceans in gigantic container
ships that consume fuel oil at a terrifying rate.
There are countless examples illustrating the
sheer volume of environmental degradation
and resource consumption that supports our
modern lifestyle.
I no longer see my world as delineated by
countries, with borders or language but as
6.5 billion humans living off a single finite
planet. Just as the eventual depletion of global
oil reserves will have a profound effect on
world economies, compromises we make in
the pursuit of economic growth to an even
more essential resource – our drinking water –
will have a fundamental impact on our very
sustenance. The basic need for fresh water,
like air and sunlight, is not a lifestyle choice
it’s a matter of survival.
Nature transformed through industry is the
predominant theme in my work. The images
are meant as metaphors for the dilemma of
our modern existence as I search for a visual
dialogue between attraction and repulsion,
seduction and fear. We are drawn by the desire
for a comfortable life, but the world is suffering
for our success. Our dependence on nature to
provide 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.