Shipbreaking yards, junk yards and oil spills are not often associated with beauty.
But Toronto-based photographer Edward Burtynsky has turned mass consumption into beautiful works of art.
The award-winning photographer’s works are currently on display at the Nanaimo Museum as part of a new exhibit called A Terrible Beauty: Edward Burtynsky in Dialogue with Emily Carr.
“Ultimately they are human-made disasters but they are beautiful,” said Aimee Greenaway, museum interpretation curator.
Burtynsky’s pieces have been paired with a number of Carr’s paintings, which depict British Columbia’s resource extraction decades earlier.
“They are all the negative impacts of humans on the environment,” Greenaway said.
A Terrible Beauty is a joint collaboration between the museum and the Nanaimo Art Gallery. The exhibit will complement the gallery’s upcoming exhibit, Silva, which explores humans’ connection to the forest.
“We are really happy about this collaboration with the art gallery,” Nanaimo Museum general manager Debbie Trueman said.
According to the museum, this is the first time that Carr’s paintings have exhibited publicly in Nanaimo.
“We are so excited to have Carr’s own exhibit in Nanaimo,” Trueman said.
The exhibit runs until Nov. 21. For more information, visit www.nanaimomuseum.ca or call 250-753-1821.
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