The Grunwald Gallery’s latest exhibition, which opened today, incorporates technology and photography to celebrate the work of an artist looking to share his message about labor, land and violence.
Many exhibitions dealing with the Themester theme “@Work: The Nature of Labor on a Changing Planet,” circulated throughout IU’s museums this semester.
The Grunwald show, sponsored in part by the initiative, includes projected images by Edward Burtynsky, rather than a display in the traditional framed print format.
Betsy Stirratt, director of the Grunwald, said Burtynsky’s assistants chose the images for this show. The gallery has never displayed the well-known photographer’s work before, so the show will be a dramatic introduction to his aesthetic.
“What attracts me is that they’re stunning images,” Stirratt said. “The fact that we’re going to be projecting them here and they’re going to be so large will be really striking. It’s beautiful work — I appreciate the combination of aesthetic quality and impact of the content he’s trying to portray.”
Burtynsky’s work highlights labor in industries and the larger world issues at play in those industries, Stirratt said. The interaction between people and the land they work on is a huge focus of Burtysnky’s photographs.
“He did a whole series about oil and the people who work in the oil field,” Stirratt said. “A lot of his images are about the landscapes, how these activities impact the landscape — that is a really important part of his work.”
Oil is just one of the industries Burtynsky covered during his worldwide exploration of labor and land. As a photographer, he traveled from North America to Bangladesh and to China, a center of world industry and industrial expansion.
The photos not only focus on the use of land for capital but the implications use has on the landscapes. Stirratt said the focus allows for anyone to look at the photos and unite because of the common theme.
“These images are very beautiful,” Stirratt said. “They also have a universal quality. They almost always engage the landscape in a certain way and people respond to them. A lot of them show the desecration of the landscape for our search for oil.”
As part of the exhibition, Burtynsky will give a talk Oct. 14 in the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts.
Stirratt said attending the talk can give viewers a more concrete understanding of the artist’s photographs and the amount of work that goes into such projects.
“It’s critical to hear about his experiences photographing these things,” Stirratt said. “What compels him to go out and do these massive projects and photograph these landscapes that most people don’t have access to? He’s not just running out and taking a picture of a landscape. He’s thoroughly engaged in the content and the activities that are going on in that landscape.”
Stirratt said she looks forward to seeing the exhibition in its completed form.
“My fingers are crossed and I’m hoping it’s going to work out,” Stirratt said. “We’ve done this sort of thing before. You just want to make sure the quality level is high, the artist is happy with it and he’s feeling that his work is being exhibited properly. We have a responsibility to make sure it looks good.”
