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Edward Burtynsky

Shipbreaking #31, Chittagong, Bangladesh

2000

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Edward Burtynsky

Shipbreaking #31, Chittagong, Bangladesh

2000

Physical Qualities Chromogenic print, Sheet: 1016 × 762 mm. (40 × 30 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Nancy and Tom O'Neil, Baltimore
Object Number 2013.333
Edward Burtynsky's work asks us to think about the relationship between nature and industry, and the human interventions that contribute to environmental change. The artist’s large-format photographs taken from dramatic vantage points document in exacting detail the desolate sites of mass manufacturing and waste disposal. Located in remote areas that extend from Vermont to Bangladesh, these at once awesome and toxic places are integrally linked to our daily habits of consumption. Behind each of Burtynsky’s images lies a tension between its seductive, ultimately beautiful, visual qualities and the harmful implications of its subject—a tension that evokes our desire for the conveniences of contemporary life regardless of environmental consequences.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2013; Tom and Nancy O'Neil, Baltimore, by purchase, 2004; Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco
New Arrivals: Gifts of Art for a New Century

Edward Burtynsky: Earth Observed

Artist

Edward Burtynsky

1954–2000

Canadian, born 1955
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