Response to Manufactured Landscapes with Edward Burtynsky

Response to Manufactured Landscapes with Edward Burtynsky

I feel as if this is very simily to Vik Muniz Wasteland. They have different approaches to photographing their imagery but still have the same impact about consumerism. The main difference in their approach is Muniz was bringing life to something viewed as disgusting where as Burtynsky is purely documenting what is going on in China. Burtynsky’s imagery is stunning and revolting at the same time and I believe that was his intent. Recycling is being used to produce more and that is scary. It is better than just destroying and not recycling but the consumerism of the world is killing the world. Lately I have been flying a lot and it is crazy that all the plots of land that I pass over are mapped out with fences and lines, owned by people. Nothing is organic or natural anymore. Land maps show what Burtynsky is trying to show, we own everything and in turn we will destroy it all, for our need for the new best big thing. The DeadPan style of photography allows us to visualize what the photographer wants us to see, in my opinion, in a more profound way. It is documentation with intent to show the best possible truth but not giving the whole truth. This is shown with this work, these landscapes are not this beautiful, he wants you to view and inspect them to have you not just glance over them but actually wonder about the content of the image.