Manufactured Landscapes - Lecture 15 - 8-12-11

So, for this lecture, we started to watch the documentary film, 'Manufactured Landscapes'. 

'Manufactured Landscapes' is a documentary film based on the work of photographer Edward Burtynsky. Edward Burtynsky is a Canadian photographer who is well-known for his large scale photographs of industrial landscapes.

In 'Manufactured Landscapes', the director, Jennifer Baichwal, follows Burtynsky around places like China and Bangladesh, visiting areas that have been transformed due to human activity; places like slums, e-waste dumps and huge industrial factories. Burtynsky concentrated a lot on the extraction industry in his work, and because of this, he brought the seriousness/conditions of this industry to our consciousness/attention.

When working in China, Burtynsky looked at where all the products of manufacturing come together, i.e. the factories. One of the factories that Burtynsky and the film focused on was Sentai Electrical. They explain what they do on their website: "We are one leading manufacturer and exporter of low voltage electrical products and materials in China."

Burtynsky explained his 1997 work on oil as an "oil-phipany", and went on to explain what this was; he was driving along and thought how oil affects his life, for example, the steering wheel he was holding, the car he was driving etc. This is how he went on to complete a volume of work on oil works etc.

Burtynsky even asks that because China entered the market of extracting oil later than others, and will they be able to sustain?

I must admit, I am struggling to see how this relates to my work, but I do appreciate Burtynsky's work. I admire how he uses just a boring industry landscape, but then through his camera lens, he turns it into something relatable and fascinating. I would never think of taking something so mundane as a factory, or an mine, or a recycling yard, and making a volume of work on this, and eventually making a whole career on it. This could be something that I think about in my future work; to look at everything, and not dismiss it because it looks 'too boring'.