Installation view, “Edward Burtynsky: The Great Acceleration,” 2025 (courtesy the artist and International Center of Photography)
EDWARD BURTYNSKY: THE GREAT ACCELERATION
ICP
84 Ludlow St. between Delancey & Broome Sts.
Through Sunday, September 28, $3-$18, 10:30 – 6:30
www.icp.org
www.edwardburtynsky.com
The eye-opening exhibition “Edward Burtynsky: The Great Acceleration” has been wowing ICP visitors since June 19, with two floors of wide-ranging photographs by the Canadian artist. While he is best known for large-scale pictures of natural landscapes and manufacturing settings, the show, which closes September 28, also features much smaller, intimate posed portraits of individual workers.
“ICP has long championed ‘concerned photography’ — imagery that informs and inspires action — which aligns deeply with my own practice,” Burtynsky said in a statement. “At such a critical moment in time, I hope this work sparks meaningful dialogue about our relationship with the planet and brings more people to this awareness.” The exhibit is named for the term given to the dramatic negative impact humanity is having on the environment.
Burtynsky’s concerned photography takes viewers around the world, from Talladega Speedway in Alabama, an Ivory burn in Nairobi, and a food processing plant in Ontario to oilfields in California, an industrial park in Ethiopia, and the Uralkali Potash Mine in
Berezniki, Russia. Using several different cameras — a revealing section takes visitors behind the scenes of his methods — Burtynsky captures glorious sites in remarkable detail and exploding with surprising shapes and colors. Be on the lookout for two nickel tailings photos from Sudbury, a gorgeous shot of downtown Breezewood, Pennsylvania, and a stunning picture of a rows of employees in the Cankun Factory in Xiamen City, China. Look closely at “Dry Tailings #1, Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo” to see people nearly lost in the composition, and take your time delving into the details of the twenty-eight-foot-high “Pivot Irrigation #8, High Plains, Texas Panhandle, USA.”
Among the potent portraits are “Recycling Yard Worker, Fengjiang, Near Wenling, Zhejuang Province, 2004” and “China Recycling #22, Portrait of a Woman in Blue Zeguo, Zhejiang Province, China, 2004.”
“Conceived especially for our largest galleries, ‘The Great Acceleration’ presents suites of monumental images that draw attention to the severity of the impact we are having on the planet while also offering a contemplative space for reflecting upon photography’s role and potential today,” curator and ICP creative director David Campany said.
See it while we still have a planet to marvel at.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]