Internationally Prominent Landscape Photographer Edward Burtynsky Comes to RIT

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Edward Burtynsky, the next speaker in the Caroline Werner Gannett Project on Jan. 21 is known for his photographs of industrial sites—including a Chinese factory (above).

The central place that oil, including its positive and negative aspects, holds in our society is the subject of “The Landscape of Oil,” a presentation and photographic exhibition by Edward Burtynsky to be held Jan. 21 at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Burtynsky, a prominent Canadian landscape photographer, has spent the last decade traveling the world to chronicle the “attraction and repulsion” of this central commodity, from drilling operations in Bakersfield, Calif., to oilfields in Azerbaijan.

The talk and exhibition, sponsored by the Caroline Werner Gannett Project, are based on a book that will be released in 2009 and gallery show that is being prepared by the Corcoran Gallery of Washington. The RIT event, which will be followed by a book signing, is free and open to the public.

Edward Burtynsky has received numerous awards for his photographic art and efforts to enhance public understanding of environmental degradation and the need for greater sustainability in society. His book Manufactured Landscapes was the basis for a 2006 documentary that was screened at the Sundance Film Festival. He also is the recipient of Canadian Geographic’s Ideas for Life Award.

WHAT: The Landscape of Oil

WHO: Edward Burtynsky

WHEN: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21

WHERE: Webb Auditorium, RIT campus