Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky was named #2 on The Independent’s 2025 Climate 100 List for his impactful photographic work highlighting humanity’s environmental impact. This list honors environmental leaders whose work provides critical insights into the climate crisis. Burtynsky’s placement underscores the power of visual art in communicating complex environmental messages. View the list here.

Burtynsky’s works are held in the collections of over eighty museums worldwide, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim, New York; Tate, London; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; and the National Gallery of Canada, among other notable international institutions. Major institutional exhibitions include The Great Acceleration (2025), International Center of Photography, New York; BURTYNSKY: Extraction/Abstraction (2024), premiered at Saatchi Gallery, London, before touring to M9, Mestre, Italy; Anthropocene (2018), Art Gallery of Ontario and National Gallery of Canada (international tour); Water (2013), New Orleans Museum of Art and Contemporary Art Center, Louisiana (international tour); Oil (2009), Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (five-year international tour); China (2005–2008, international tour); Manufactured Landscapes (2003–2005), National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (toured to Art Gallery of Ontario and Brooklyn Museum); and Breaking Ground (1988–1992), produced by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (international tour).

Burtynsky’s work was the subject of the award-winning documentary trilogy Manufactured Landscapes (dir. Jennifer Baichwal, 2006), Watermark (dir. Baichwal and Burtynsky, 2013), and ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch (dir. Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, and Burtynsky, 2018).

Born in St. Catharines, Ontario in 1955, Burtynsky earned his Bachelor of Applied Arts in Photography and Media Studies from Ryerson University in 1982. His accolades include the Roloff Beny Book Award (2003); the Outreach Award at Rencontres d’Arles (2004); the inaugural TED Prize (2005); the Rogers Best Documentary Film Award (2006); the ICP Infinity Award for Art (2008); the Kraszna Krausz Book Award (2010); the Lucie Award for Achievement in Documentary Photography (2011, 2019); the Photo London Master of Photography Award (2018); the Arts & Letters Award at the Canadian Association of New York’s Maple Leaf Ball (2019); the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award from the World Photography Organisation (2022); and his induction into the International Photography Hall of Fame (2022), among others. Burtynsky was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006, appointed Peace Patron by the Mosaic Institute in 2018, and currently holds nine honorary doctorate degrees.

Edward Burtynsky portrait by Christopher Michel