Edward Burtynsky: Extraction / Abstraction is on view from February 14 through May 6, 2024, at the Saatchi Gallery in London. The exhibition presents the artist’s largest and most comprehensive retrospective to date, exploring key subjects and signature images from his illustrious 45-year career. Visitors will have the chance to engage with Burtynsky’s compelling photographs, complemented by an exhibition monograph featuring insightful texts by celebrated art historian Simon Schama and renowned curator Marc Mayer, former director of the National Gallery of Canada. Schama’s contribution examines Burtynsky’s work in light of the profound question, “Can art help save the world?” Meanwhile, Mayer provides a detailed overview of the photographer’s multifaceted achievements as a technician, journalist, and artist.

Extraction / Abstraction presents a striking dichotomy in Burtynsky’s image-making imperative: the lucid and informed documentation of large-scale extractive processes and the transformation of industrial landscapes into complete abstractions. This exhibition also highlights other essential themes in his oeuvre, such as agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, and waste, ensuring a thorough exploration of his artistic vision. With more than 130 color plates, the accompanying book includes a special section titled the “Process Archive.” This archive features previously unpublished, behind-the-scenes photographs of Burtynsky at work, both on the ground and in the air, throughout his career. It offers a rare glimpse into the artist’s progression and evolution of his medium, showcasing his journey from mid-twentieth-century large-format analogue (film-based) cameras to twenty-first-century high-resolution digital technologies. Additionally, the archive delves into his explorations of photogrammetry and augmented reality, further emphasizing the breadth and depth of Burtynsky’s innovative approach to photography.

Born in St. Catharines, Ontario in 1955, Edward Burtynsky received his Bachelor of Applied Arts in Photography and Media Studies from Ryerson University in 1982. Burtynsky is a recipient of the 2004 TED Prize honoring individuals who have shown they can positively impact life in a global context, as well as the ICP Infinity Award for Art (2008), the Rogers Best Documentary Film Award (2006), The Outreach Award at the Rencontres d’Arles (2004), and the Roloff Beny Book Award (2003). In 2006 he was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of Canada and in 2008 he was awarded the ICP Infinity Award for Art. In 2018 Burtynsky was named Photo London’s Master of Photography and the Mosaic Institute’s Peace Patron. In 2019 he was the recipient of the Arts & Letters Award at the Canadian Association of New York’s annual Maple Leaf Ball and the 2019 Lucie Award for Achievement in Documentary Photography. In 2020 he was awarded a Royal Photographic Society Honorary Fellowship (2020) and in 2022 was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award by the World Photography Organization. Most recently he was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and was named the 2022 recipient for the annual Pollution Probe Award.