Is there beauty in the marks people make on the land? Renowned Canadian photographer, Edward Burtynsky seeks the answer when the Western Australian Museum brings his exhibition, Australian Minescapes to Brisbane Powerhouse from Friday 13 August to Sunday 19 September.
Australian Minescapes is a new body of work gifted by Burtynsky to the Western Australian Museum with the financial support of FotoFreo Inc., who commissioned the work for their 2008 festival. This series of images, taken in the Eastern Goldfields and the Pilbara of Western Australia, continues Burtynsky’s examination of natural landscapes modified by humankind in the pursuit of the raw materials required by our modern society.
Burtynsky’s photographic work has examined quarries, mine sites, industrial landscapes, oilfields and industrial sites around the world. His pursuit is to find the beauty in the marks that humankind makes on the land.
Edward Burtynsky says, “The concept of the landscape as architecture has become, for me, an act of imagination. I remember looking at buildings made of stone and thinking there has to be an interesting landscape somewhere out there, because these stones had to have been taken out of a quarry one block at a time. I had never seen a dimensional quarry, but I envisaged an inverted cubed architecture on the side of a hill. I went in search of it and when I had it on my ground glass, I knew that I had arrived.”
One of Canada’s most respected photographers, Edward Burtynsky’s photographic depictions of global industrial landscapes are in the collections of many major museums around the world, including the National gallery of Canada, the Bibliotèque Nationale in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim Museum in New York.
This exhibition is supported by Visions of Australia, an Australian Government program supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding assistance for the development and touring of Australian cultural material across Australia
For more information call 07 3358 8600 or go to brisbanepowerhouse.org
Brisbane Powerhouse is Brisbane City Council’s leading arts performance venue helping to deliver a vibrant and creative city.
Date: Fri 13 Aug – Sun 19 Sep
Time: Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat+Sun 10am-4pm + performance times.
Venue: Brisbane Powerhouse Foyers
Tickets: FREE
Bookings: 07 3358 8600 or brisbanepowerhouse.org