Edward Burtynsky: Canadian, Photographer, Corporation, Sustainability Advocate, TED Prize Winner
I ducked into the Vancouver Art Gallery this afternoon and, on the fourth floor, came across an image of Edward Burtynsky. I really dig Burtynsky’s work (site). He has spent his life as a fine art photographer creating images of natural landscapes that have been impacted by human activities – from mines and quarries in North America, to the massive shipyard recycling projects in Bangladesh and the urban renewal projects of China. The image in the VAG was from his series on the Three Gorges Damn Project on the Yangtze river (and covered in his TED talk above). It’s pretty unreal, especially the video of a worker assembling a circuit breaker (at 18:14). Burtynsky was awarded the 2005 TED talk wish:
One of his wishes: to build a website that will help kids think about going green. Thanks to WGBH and the TED community, the new site, Meet the Greens, debuted at TED2007. His second wish: to begin work on an Imax film — and this work is now ongoing. And his third wish, wider in scope, was simply to encourage “a massive and productive worldwide conversation about sustainable living.” Thanks to his help and the input of the TED community, the site WorldChanging.com got an infusion of energy that has helped it to grow into a leading voice in the sustainability community.
