A new exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto) and co-presented at the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa) illustrates the effects humans have been having on the Earth.
It’s called “Anthropocene” which is the term scientists use to describe the current epoch in the Earth’s history, where humans are affecting nature and not the other way around.
Saw Mills #1, Lagos, Nigeria, 2016, photo © Edward Burtynsky, courtesy of Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto
As the Oxford dictionary describes it, “Relating to or denoting the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment”.
The exhibits are part of the Anthropocene Project, and are co-produced with MAST Foundation, Bologna, Italy. The Project is a multi-disciplinary effort from the collective of Canadians; photographer Edward Burtynsky and filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier.
Edward Burtynsky’s new photography exhibit Anthropocene opens this Friday at the AGO. (Paul Smith/CBC)
“There are many people out there who still believe it’s impossible that one little primate (humans) with 7 billion individuals could possibly influence something as large as the Earth, We’d like to dispel that (belief) once and forever” A. Wolfe, biology, University of Alberta
Mushin Market Intersection, Lagos, Nigeria, 2016. Edward Burtynsky (Courtesy Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto)
In a statement on the AGO website the artists say “Our ambition is for the work to be revelatory, not accusatory, as we examine human influence on the earth both in planetary scale and geological time. Humans now change the earth’s system more than all natural forces combined, and we want to bear witness in an experiential way to these lasting impacts. The shifting of consciousness is the beginning of change”.
YouTube- Anthropocene Film trailer
The exhibits at the AGO and National Gallery run from this Friday, September 28, to January 6, 2019.
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