Silver Lake Operations #16, Lake Lefroy, Western Australia Possibly 2007 - 2010

Edward Burtynsky made this photograph, Silver Lake Operations #16, Lake Lefroy, Western Australia, using photographic materials to capture an aerial view. The color palette is pretty wild. It’s like a muted fever dream, all whites and rusts and blacks bleeding into each other. I can’t help but think about the texture of things here. The smooth sheen of the salt lake contrasting with the rough, almost topographical quality of the mining site. Look at those black lines, almost like ink spills across a canvas. They remind me of quick, gestural drawings. The way the road cuts through the landscape, it's so direct and unforgiving. It almost seems like Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park series. Both artists seem interested in landscape, with the formal devices of line and tone. But the message is very different. Burtynsky’s image is an unsettling reminder of our impact on the planet. It’s about industry, extraction, and the strange beauty that can emerge from destruction.