African Studies
In Burtynsky’s most recent photographs, produced across the African continent, the patterns and scars of human-altered landscapes initially appear to form an abstracted painterly language. From the graduating tonal grids of pinks and green-gold formed by the expansive salt flats in Namibia, Senegal and Botswana, to the swirling whorls formed by South Africa’s tailing ponds and mine dumps, they reference the sublime and often surreal qualities of human mark making. Taken from predominantly aerial vantage points, and presented at a large scale, the flattened frontal aspect, hyper-detail and dizzying perspective of Burtynsky’s photographic works navigate a narrow path between form and content. They function, from Burtynsky’s viewpoint, as reflecting pools of our times, seducing the eye to the surface and immersing the viewer in painterly details of line, shape and colour. 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 mechanised excavation, a series of distinct chapters culminate with China in Africa: a series depicting the interiors of newly built manufacturing plants. His project brings together the work of seven years, presenting the latest installment in Burtynsky’s lifelong oeuvre.
