In the Manufactured Landscape, the prominent Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky unfolded the gritty underside where the industrial and manufacturing activities in China have reshaped the surface of the earth. Chapter 9 and 10 gives an insight on the impacts of photography and digital arts on the world. Precisely, chapter 9 sheds light further on the role of photography in engendering public attention to the suffering resulting from hunger, poverty, and war and thereby sensitize the readers to make profound changes. In this context, the Manufactured Landscape is in line with the chapters since Burtynsky work encapsulates the aspects from the topic by capturing photographs to create awareness on the ramifications of mass industrialization throughout the world (Schuster 194). My response to the imagery and the pictures in the video is that there is the need of preserving the landscape since the social and environmental turmoil’s that inspires these photographs makes them a potent emblem of the current world.
Children Playing on top of Waste Debris
Location: Shanghai, China
Year: 2013
In the photograph, Burtynsky captured children playing on top of dangerous waste debris dumped by a Chinese iron factory. Burtynsky incorporated his lens in revealing a landscape altered by industrialization while at the same time probing deeper on peoples’ lives amidst the turmoil (Wu 1012). My view on the photo is that human activities have disposed the poor and especially children who lack access to the pleasures of consumption to life-threatening activities resulting from the vast quantity of debris disposed on the landscape. Therefore, it is significant to establish conservation and sustainable programs which focuses on sustaining the natural world and reduce the current level of pollution.
Works Cited
Schuster, J. "Between manufacturing and landscapes: Edward Burtynsky and the photography of ecology." Photography and Culture 6.2 (2013): 193-212.
Wu, Jianguo. "Landscape sustainability science: ecosystem services and human well-being in changing landscapes." Landscape Ecology 28.6 (2013): 999-1023.
