
Nickel Tailings #36, Sudbury, Ontario
A large-scale chromogenic print by renowned Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, this work captures the eerie, otherworldly landscape of nickel tailings near Sudbury, Ontario, where deep crimson and rust-colored mineral waste pools form abstract patterns across the earth. Burtynsky's signature aerial or close perspective transforms industrial devastation into something hauntingly beautiful, blurring the line between aesthetic pleasure and environmental critique. The vivid, saturated hues of the chemically altered terrain force viewers to confront the massive ecological footprint of industrial mining operations.
- Medium
- chromogenic print
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
Under the Influence
March 7, 2014
More by Edward Burtynsky
Artists in conversation

Andreas Gursky
German · b. 1955

Gursky creates large scale chromogenic prints that transform industrial and human altered landscapes into visually stunning abstract compositions, sharing Burtynsky's approach of elevating environmental subject matter into sublime aesthetic experiences through saturated color and sweeping aerial perspectives.

David Maisel
American · b. 1961

Maisel's aerial photography of toxic lakes, mining sites, and industrial wastelands produces vivid crimson and rust colored abstract patterns nearly identical in mood and subject to this nickel tailings work, blending environmental critique with hauntingly beautiful color saturated imagery.
Peter Essick
American · b. 1957
Essick documents industrial environmental damage and resource extraction sites with richly saturated chromogenic prints that balance aesthetic beauty against ecological devastation, closely mirroring Burtynsky's practice of revealing the hidden visual sublimity within landscapes of industrial waste.
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