This thought-provoking aerial photography documents humanity’s insatiable appetite for natural resources

Colorful patterns in landscape produced by industrial mineral extraction. .

Acclaimed Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky has been at the forefront of documenting the environmental impact of industrial mineral extraction for more than 40 years.

Burtynsky's work, often created from high above the landscape, tells a sobering yet somehow visually beautiful story of humanity’s ever-growing levels of consumption.

Fueled by a seemingly insatiable demand for natural resources, this relentless extraction leaves permanent scars on landscapes, destroys fragile ecosystems, degrades habitats and threatens biodiversity across vast regions of the planet, which Burtysnsky captures in large-format frames.

Kambalda Tailings Pond, Kambalda Nickel Mine, WA, Australia (Image credit: Edward Burtynsky courtesy of the Flowers Gallery)

This year the photographer has returned to Photo London, a prominent UK photography and image-based arts fair, to exhibit his latest project documenting industrial resource extraction in Western Australia from the air.

The exhibition revisits many of the same locations featured in the series Australian Minescapes, Burtynsky’s first entirely aerial project, in which he covered the environmental damage caused by sites including iron ore operations in the Pilbara region and gold mining in the Eastern Goldfields.

Murrin Murrin Tailings Pond, Murrin Murrin Mine, WA, Australia (Image credit: Edward Burtynsky courtesy of the Flowers Gallery)

Returning to locations such as nickel extraction operations at Lake Lefroy, Burtynsky continues to chronicle the ongoing and accelerating rate at which humanity is consuming materials that cannot be replaced.

This time, however, the aerial work focuses on the natural resources fueling the global shift toward electrification, including aluminum, lithium and silver.

The collection delivers a stark warning about capitalism’s increasingly damaging impact on nature, while also prompting conversations about sustainability, responsible consumption and the environmental cost of technological progress.

Worsley Alumina Tailings, Worsley Alumina Refinery, WA, Australia (Image credit: Edward Burtynsky courtesy of the Flowers Gallery)

Edward Burtynsky: Western Australia – Recent Works is exhibiting today at Booth HO1 of The Flower Gallery, as part of Photo London’s Public Programme.

Today is the last day of the fair, which for the first time has been taking place at Olympia London – the historic events venue in Kensington. For more information, visit the Photo London website.

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