Edward Burtynsky
A Message from the Mountains
Story by Katherine Fawcewtt
courtesy Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary
Art is a powerful force with endless outcomes. Its beauty can inspire and uplift. Its message can provoke, entertain, and enlighten. And its poignancy can also be a sobering call to action.
The internationally acclaimed, Toronto-based artist and photographer Edward Burtynsky knows these forces well. His images, while stunning to look at, feature serious themes that cannot be ignored. Over the past 40 years, Burtynsky has focused his lens on the impact human industry has had upon the earth. The Audain Art Museum’s (AAM) upcoming exhibition, The Coast Mountains: Recent Works by Edward Burtynsky, will provide a spectacular bird’s-eye view of the splendour of the local environment while highlighting the issue of shrinking glaciers because of climate change.
Burtynsky reflected: “Recent reports on the world’s remaining glaciers provide sobering news. Estimates are that most of Western Canada’s glaciers will be lost to melting within the next 80 years. By the end of this century, they could all be gone. These images are a reminder of what’s being lost — relics of ancient ice and an essential resource for ecosystems and freshwater in these parts of the world.”
The exhibition, part of the Capture Photography Festival, will be tailored to the AAM’s upper gallery space. Director and Chief Curator Dr. Curtis Collins said visitors will appreciate the aesthetic wonder of the large, highly detailed, regionally based photos and the underlying dilemma of how the alpine landscape continues to change.
“(Hosting Burtynsky’s exhibition is) a great opportunity for the museum,” said Collins. “It’s a sign that the museum’s reputation over the last few years is hitting the international community. We’re a go-to venue for art-goers.”
The exhibition will run from April 27 to Sept. 15, 2025.