EDWARD BURTYNSKY
TRANSFORMATION
Through Nov. 29, 2025
GALLERY HOURS:
Monday – Friday, 11 am – 5:30 pmSaturday, 2 pm – 5 pm
EXPLORE EXHIBITION
EXHIBITION REVIEW
By Patricia Albers
November 3, 2025
Edward Burtynsky, Dry Tailings #1, Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2024 Jet engines, radiation treatments, and the lithium-ion batteries found in smartphones and EVs all require cobalt. So do certain cutting tools and, of course, cobalt blue paints and inks. All help drive a global society that is transforming at breakneck speed. And all help meet vital human needs. Yet let’s pause to consider this situation. Photographer Edward Burtynsky proposes as much in his exhibition, “Transformation.” To refocus from the immediate to the millennial. To recognize that current technology is not destiny. To remember that ours is a fragile and finite planet. “Transformation” opens with “Dry Tailings #1, Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of the Congo” (2024/2025), an aerial view of an open-pit cobalt and copper mine near the central African city that is the site of more than half of global cobalt reserves. The photograph reveals a vast tiered gash in the earth’s surface. The global superpowers’ frenzy to extract cobalt and copper have transformed a once wooded grassland into a place that is ravaged, bone-dry, and, as in “Dry Tailings #1,” unexpectedly stunning. Although Burtynsky’s work has been widely reproduced, it makes its full impact not in books or on screens but as pigment inkjet prints. For one thing, their size — about an arm span wide — allows us to step back for an overview, then move in to eyeball the hyper-detail. In “Dry Tailings #1,” he achieves pinpoint resolution by shooting with a 100-megapixel Hasselblad. He also opts for compressed space, horizonless framing, bright yet even light, and lucid color. The mine is rendered as a series of stepped-back striations of ochres, grays, siennas, and whites. Paradoxically, this image was created using some of photography’s latest technical advancements, yet looks quasi-painterly from a few feet away, emphasizing the formal beauty of the photograph. But move closer, and minuscule human figures come into focus. They dramatically change the way we see the image. Using primitive tools or their bare hands, these artisanal miners visibly scratch out the toxic chunks of cobalt that will earn them a dollar or two a day, even as it poisons them. The inhumane conditions and scale of the pillage are morally appalling. Yet cobalt is vital to decarbonizing the planet. How to mentally process this situation? What should be done? Burtynsky only observes, but in so doing invites us to ponder. READ FULL FEATURE |
Image scroll: Edward Burtynsky, (1) Rainforest #2, Olympic National Park, Washington, USA, 2024; (2) Echo Bay #1, Lake Mead, Nevada, USA, 2023; (3) Thjorsá River #3, Southern Region, Iceland, 2012; (4) Coast Mountains #15, Receding Glacier, British Columbia, Canada, 2023
GALLERY HOURS:
Monday – Friday, 11 am – 5:30 pm
Saturday, 2 pm – 5 pm
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