Digital Audio Guide

Over more than forty years in photography, Edward Burtynsky has examined the impact of civilization on nature and his exhibitions have resonated worldwide. Shifting Topography brings art lovers together with the striking lens of this Canadian artist, known as one of the foremost visual chroniclers of our time. The exhibition presents a comprehensive selection of the artist’s most acclaimed photographs from the past thirty years alongside his latest project, featuring never-before-seen images from the diverse landscapes of Türkiye. Shifting Topography offers a profound life-long meditation on the relationship between humanity and the planet that sustains it through outstanding images organized under the themes “Erosion”, “Water & Salt”, African Studies”, “Nature”, “Quarries”, “Berezniki Mine”, and “Oil”.

Shifting Topography begins with Burtynsky’s recent exploration, commissioned by Borusan Contemporary Art Collection, on the subject of erosion across Türkiye. As part of a collaboration beginning in 2019, the artist undertook a two-week expedition in the spring of 2022 across central Anatolia and the Mediterranean region to produce his new series on soil erosion in Türkiye. During this exploration, more than 3,000 kilometers were traveled by land and air. Using drones and helicopters at altitudes of 125 to 500 meters, Burtynsky and his team captured detailed aerial views of this land in flux.

The resulting series, titled “Erosion”, includes thirty-six meticulously composed images, several of which are stitched together from multiple exposures to create sweeping, high-resolution panoramas. In these works, Burtynsky guides viewers across Türkiye: he portrays the erosion-control terraces of Kayseri Yeşilhisar with the delicacy of a painted canvas and captures the extraordinary nature of Lake Tuz [Salt Lake] through a distinctive vision. From the natural wonder of Lake Yarışlı in Burdur to the colorful fields of Kırşehir, and from the Göksu River Valley in Karaman to the arid lands of Nallıhan in Ankara, these images reveal not only the natural beauty but also the environmental transformations of Anatolia.

Beginning with the landscapes of Türkiye, Shifting Topography expands to include a special selection of works from across the globe, ultimately holding up a mirror to the planet as a whole. The new works in the “Erosion” section are presented alongside several other investigations throughout the building: “Water & Salt” traces the interwoven geographies shaped by two elemental forces that continue to define our era; “African Studies” offers a penetrating enquiry into the Sub-Saharan countries; “Nature” marks a return to Burtynsky’s first inspiration—now enriched by more than four decades of experience; “Quarries” examines anthropogenic erosion—a purposeful extraction of land-mass— through these forms of negative architecture; “Berezniki Mine” offers insight into a central subject of the artist’s career, one rooted in his early years working in a gold mine; and “Oil” captures our intricate relationship with the fuel that on the one hand gave birth to the many marvels of the Industrial Revolution, but on the other, has fostered one of the gravest dilemmas of our age. From Türkiye’s hillsides to the far reaches of the world, Burtynsky’s images provide aesthetic and ethical insight into the irreversible traces we leave on the earth.

In the photographs of Edward Burtynsky—recognized as one of the foremost visual storytellers of our time—the harsh reality of nature being transformed by human hands collides with the unsettling beauty of these landscapes. This powerful and courageous duality engulfs the viewer in an intense experience.

Burtynsky’s masterfully crafted images lead us to reflect on the long-term consequences of humanity’s imprint on Earth, while urging us to seriously question what we are losing and how we can preserve the sustainability of the world we are building for future generations. Shifting Topography offers visitors not only aesthetic enrichment but also a profound intellectual journey.