BANFF, ALBERTA.- The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies is thrilled to unveil its new feature exhibition, Edward Burtynsky: The Residual Landscapes, showcasing 25 years of the photographer's inspiring and thought-provoking large-scale photographs.

Edward Burtynsky is one of Canada's most respected and celebrated photographers. He's made it his life's work to document humanity's impact on the planet. Burtynsky's riveting images, as beautiful as they are disturbing, capture views of the earth altered by mankind. A mountain of tires, a river of fluorescent orange sludge from a nickel mine and a massive man-made canyon carved deep into the earth to reach its oil riches – these are just some of the many eye-opening images in this moving exhibition.

"Mr. Burtynsky donated over half of the photographs showcased in this exhibition to the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. We are extremely grateful for his generous gift," said Craig Richards, curator of photography at the Whyte. "Most of the photographs were taken in Alberta and B.C. The rest come from sites in Ontario, Vermont and California, China, Bangladesh and India and were captured over the last 25 years."

"These images are meant as metaphors to the dilemma of our modern existence; they search for a dialogue between attraction and repulsion, seduction and fear," said Edward Burtynsky, photographer. "We are drawn by desire – a chance at good living, yet we are consciously or unconsciously aware that the world is suffering for our success. Our dependence on nature to provide the materials for our consumption and our concern for the health of our planet sets us into an uneasy contradiction. For me, these images function as reflecting pools of our times."

Burtynsky's remarkable photographic depictions of global industrial landscapes are in the collections of several major museums around the world including the National Gallery of Canada, the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. This is the second time Burtynsky has exhibited at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies.

The Whyte Museum gratefully acknowledges the support of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary.