Edward Burtynsky (b. 1955) is one of a generation of photographers who seek to portray the visible outcomes of a globalized economy and humankind s impact on environments around the world. He has achieved global recognition with his large-scale photographs and project-based monographs, such as Quarries, Oil, and Water, all of which have resulted in popular touring exhibitions and, in the case of Water, a feature-length documentary film entitled Watermark. However, while Burtynsky s global standing is without question, no comprehensive retrospective of his career to date exists.

Edited and curated by William A. Ewing, 'Edward Burtynsky: Essential Elements' provides an overview of Burtynsky s work across four decades, including 140 photographs of both iconic and previously unpublished images. It conceives of Burtynsky s oeuvre as five free-flowing sections that provide a sense of both his visual language and his exploration of the dilemmas at the heart of our globalized world. Each of the five sections is interleaved with a selection of texts from previous publications and articles on Burtynsky that work in concert with the photographs to provide a complete understanding of Burtynsky s view of the world.

With an introduction by William A. Ewing and an essay by Joshua Schuster, this book provides both an entirely new way of seeing Burtynsky s work.