Edward Burtynsky: African Studies

Edward Burtynsky: African Studies
Category: Photographer Monographs & Art Books
Author: Edward Burtynsky, Deborah Bräutigam, Raffi Khatchadourian, Christopher Littlewood, Marc Mayer, Azu Nwagbogu
Publisher: Steidl
Publication Date: 2023
Print Length: 208 pages
Language: English
Price: paid paid paid

An unsettling seven-year chronicle of severe resource depletion across Africa.

In Edward Burtynsky’s recent photographs, produced across the African continent, the patterns and scars of human-altered landscapes initially appear to form an abstract painterly language; they reference the sublime and often surreal qualities of human mark-making. While chronicling the major themes of terraforming and extraction, urbanization and deforestation, African Studies conveys the unsettling reality of sweeping resource depletion on both a human and industrial scale.

From natural landscapes to artisanal mining and mechanized extraction, several distinct chapters culminate with China in Africa: a series depicting the economic inroads being made by China, including the interiors of gigantic newly built manufacturing plants. This project brings together the work of seven years, the latest installment in Burtynsky’s ongoing oeuvre.

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Edward Burtynsky: Essential Elements

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Nature Transformed

2012 - Hood Museum of art

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Quarries

2009 - Steidl

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2003 - Yale University Press

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