World-renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky was awarded a Sony World Photography Prize for outstanding contribution to photography, and he dedicated the award to the Ukrainian photographers diligently documenting the war launched by Vladimir Putin.
At the event, Edward said: “As a Canadian-Ukrainian, I would like to share this award with the artists of Ukraine, many of whom are bravely documenting the desecration of both their people and lands. Photography embodies truth in a way that transcends language, culture, borders, and time. In the face of fake news and Putin’s vicious disinformation campaign, Ukrainian photographers are using this moment to show the world the truth.”
Edward—who is also the winner of the TED prize for his brilliant, timely and eye-opening talks about the relationships between humanity, art, and climate change—studies the environmental implications of this new era through the lens of his camera. The Guardian calls him “the great chronicler of eco-atrocities”: his remarkable photographs of global industrial landscapes are included in the collections of over fifty major museums around the world, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
His life and work are the subjects of numerous magazine profiles, including The New Yorker, and the award-winning documentaries Watermark, Manufactured Landscapes, and Anthropocene, all of which he co-directed. Anthropocene was recognized by Variety as one of the Best Documentaries of the Year, and Watermark was awarded the Best Canadian Film Award from the Toronto Film Critics Association.
