The Coast Mountains: Recent Works by Edward Burtynsky

Overview

Internationally acclaimed Toronto-based artist Edward Burtynsky presents a selection of large-scale photo-based works at the Audain Art Museum. Over the past 40 years, Burtynsky has focused his camera lens on the impact of human industry around the planet. This display of recent works in Whistler entitled The Coast Mountains captures the pristine grandeur of British Columbia’s natural environment, while highlighting the pressing issue of glacier retreat due to global warming.

Burtynsky reflects: “Recent reports on the world’s remaining glaciers provide sobering news. Estimates are that most of Western Canada’s glaciers will be lost to melting within the next 80 years. By the end of this century, they could all be gone. My daughters, who are in their 20s, will not be looking at the same world when they are my age. These images are a reminder of what’s being lost – relics of ancient ice and an essential resource for ecosystems and freshwater in these parts of the world.”

Such an exhibition in the AAM’s Upper Galleries brings a relevant sense of aesthetic wonder that has attracted visitors to Whistler for decades and the underlying dilemma of how the local mountain landscape continues to change. The Museum is honoured to host Edward Burtynsky, as he continues to be a leader in artistic discourse that speaks to a greater social consciousness.

This exhibition is part of the 2025 Capture Photography Festival Featured Exhibitions Program.