Trashing the Virtual Landscape: Identity and the Digital Archive in Burtynsky’s Portraits, by...

7/13/2019 Trashing the Virtual Landscape: Identity and the Digital Archive in Burtynskys Portraits, by Amanda Hardy

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Trashing the Virtual Landscape:Identity and the Digital Archive in

Burtynskys Portraits

Amanda Hardy

We confront, over and over, the truth of technology which technology typicallykeeps hidden, or ignores, namely the twinned logic of possibility and negation.

Mark Kingwell,China1

In September 2011, Symantec, a manufacturer of anti-virus and anti-spyware programs,as well as other Internet security products for the home, released a television commercialentitled Stu!. It illustrated the growing connection with intangible stu! in our ownpersonal digital archives, on our devices, and on the web. Symantecs advertisement wentso far as to suggest our identities were defined by these connections to the digital archive;the voice-over asks without your stu!, who are you?2 Edward Burtynsky attempts topicture the impact of this deepening relationship with stu! in his work on recycling inChina, a book of photographs, where electronic waste (e-waste) landscapes are arguablypositioned as the outcome of increasingly materialistic and consumptive Western society.In this paper, I suggest these landscapes are unable to fully engage viewers with the e-waste issue. Instead, I propose that a few of his portraitsunusual subjects for Burtynsky,and excluded from his photographic narrative on recycling in Chinamay allow viewersto reflect di!erently on the incomprehensible expansion of the digital archive and howtheir personal involvement with its production fuels e-waste growth.

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1 Mark Kingwell, "e Truth in Photographs: Edward Burtynskys Revelations of Excess, in China:e Photographs of Edward Burtynsky, Edward Burtynsky et al. (Gottingen, Ger.: Steidl, 2005), 18.2 Norton Symantec - Stu!, YouTube video, 1:00, posted by jefirinis, September 8, 2011,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2ijjeyWhcg. Symantec also showcased two additional videos (a home

movie of babies and a slideshow of archival photographs) to illustrate why you should protect the stu!thatmatters.


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Edward Burtynsky, a Canadian fine art photographer, has dedicated the bulk of hiscareer to capturing images of nature transformed through industry.3 Since the late1980s, beginning in North America and expanding globally, Burtynskys lens has trainedon sites where natural landscapes have been altered through industrial activity and this

progress has left its mark. His work is represented and exhibited worldwide, and hangs ina variety of public and corporate collections; series of his works are published in glossy,oversize co!ee-table books. Over the past decade, Burtynsky has dedicated substantialtime and resources to in-depth investigations of particular areas and sites. A film crewfollowed his journey through China while he shot photos for China, and produced adocumentary film entitledManufactured Landscapes. In short, Burtynsky has spent the lasttwenty-five years purposefully exploring his perspective on, and thematic relationshipwith, raw materials, the environment, and industry.4Burtynskys images explore the ten-sion between attraction to a good life, including its material rewards, and repulsion fromthe devastating impacts of that good life.5He intimates that a comfortable, modern exis-tence cannot be achieved without some unsettling compromise. To unpack these paradoxes, Burtynsky has developed a trademark style and ap-proach. Burtynsky admits that he has always found that the di#cult thing as a fine artphotographer is to find ways of separating f rom that sphere of photography-as-folk tradi-tion. [His] subjects are certainly important, but theyre all connected to one another by[his] conceptual determination. And that its that [sic] cohesion which makes the di!er-ence and completes that separation.6By cohesion, Burtynsky refers to his strategy: re-search and site selection process, predominant use of a large-format camera, perspectivewhich emphasizes size and scale without forsaking detail, careful composition, and print-

making that ultimately exudes beauty. Combined with this conceptual determination isBurtynskys positioningthat of avoiding a conscious polemic in his representations.7In a special feature in Manufactured Landscapes, Burtynsky and the director discuss

how his images do not preach and therefore possess fruitful ambiguity. Instead, the duali-ties of attraction (an aesthetic seduction that takes the viewer in) and repulsion (a sud-den realization of another truth to the image) produce a double-take (a reflection on thecontent, distinct from a formal experience). Burtynskys main interest lies at this point

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3 Statement/Bio, Edward Burtynsky Photographic Works, accessed November 28, 2011,http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/index.html.4 Burtynskys body of work could serve as an archival, ethnographic, or anthropological document.Further investigation into his creation of a photographic archive, while worth pursuing, is outside the scope ofthis paper.5 Patricia Ballamingie et al., Edward Burtynskys ChinaPhotographs A multidisciplinary reading,

Environments Journal37, no. 2 (2009/2010): 69.6 Craig Campbell, Residual Landscapes and the Everyday: An Interview with Edward Burtynsky,Space and Culture11, no. 1 (February 2008): 44. Photography-as-folk, in the context of this quote and forthe purposes of this paper, is defined similarly to vernacular photography. Vernacular photos, taken by ama-teur or unknown photographers, document common, everyday things, people, or experiences and might pos-sess an unintentional artistic quality. Although many of Burtynskys images capture what could be consideredcommon things, he strives to di!erentiate his work from the vernacular through his rigorous artistic disci-

pline, premeditated thematic content, and monumental approach.7 Ibid., 46.


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of intersection, a universal plane that is mistaken for beauty but he feels is language.8Hetries to position the work so that the viewer, while surveying the image, slowly developshis or her own realization about the work and its message. "is open-endedness to itsnarrative is a very conscious decision on [his] part.9And, in doing so, Burtynskys ulti-

mate aim is to alter consciousness.However, this constructed cohesion draws pointed criticism. Most common is

the argument that aesthetics trump the double-take, as Burtynskys beautification of dis-aster glosses over real issues.10In China, Mark Kingwell struggles to reconcile the truth inBurtynskys images. He questions whether it is possible for an open-ended narrative toexist when beauty is obviously paramount, and when the viewers exploration of thedouble-take becomes so overwhelming the end result is confusion. While he acknowl-edges the works complexities, and praises Burtynsky for taking what he feels is a muchmore obvious political note with China, Kingwell still cautions the images could thoughnot via direct intention . . . become inert or even disreputable in either or both of twosenses: as mere wallpaper, the sort of well-meaning neutering liable to overtake any workvia fashionable appropriation . . . ; or also, and worse, as slyly doubled avoidance-ritual,such that a sop to environmental awareness is o!ered and then as quickly withdrawn, orset aside, by the works surrender to an existing logic of aesthetic appreciation.11In directreference to Manufactured Landscapes, Ballamingie et al. concur Burtynsky has a mainaesthetic preoccupationwith gigantic scale in visual terms, and even point to the use ofpanoramic diptychs when a single image becomes inadequate.12Geo!Dyer, referring tolater works in Burtynskys Oil, directly attacks Burtynskys composition as bordering onan indulgence . . . . A Burtynsky photograph . . . is becoming a bit of a production."ere

is a similar loss of intimacy, the same dependence on scale and spectacle, on the sheerscale of the spectacle.13I interpret these criticisms as reflections on Burtynskys growingpopularity and exposure vis--vis his intentions as a fine art photographer. Burtynskyrisks stereotyping his imagesif he has not alreadyand how viewers interactwith themby consistently replicating his strategy. Over time, this continued approach could drainany enlightening insight from Burtynskys open-ended narrative or the viewers double-take. "e philosophically complex problems of e-waste and their link to the rapidly ex-panding digital archive deserve contemplation. "e archive itself highlights these com-plexities through its own contested definitions. In her critical evaluation of Robin Kelseys

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8 Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky, Special Features: Discussion with the Director and Ed-ward Burtynsky,Manufactured Landscapes, directed by Jennifer Baichwal (Toronto, ON: Mongrel Media,2007), DVD.9 Campbell, 46.10 Burtynsky acknowledges his work is criticized from time to time about beautifying something thatshould be seen as a tragedy, and dismisses this criticism as one reading of it, maintaining he strives to pro-duce a paradoxical representation of the attraction and repulsion we face even in our daily existence.Baichwal and Burtynsky, Discussion with the Director.11 Kingwell, "e Truth in Photographs, 18.12 Ballamingie et al., 87.

13 Geo!

Dyer, Edward Burtynsky, in Otherwise Known as the Human Condition: Selected Essays andReviews 1989-2010, comp. Geo!Dyer (Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press, 2011), 89.


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book Archive Style, Joan Schwartz summarizes and questions the archives various intrica-cies. On one hand, the archive can be a tangible depository or repository for artifacts; onthe other, it can be an intangible concepta system enabling and controlling the pro-duction of knowledge14illustrated through the collection, presentation, and display of

objects. Regardless, Schwartz emphasizes two key points: images (specifically, photo-graphs) are particularly important archival elements with a profound e!ect on our strate-gies of seeing, engaging and understanding the world;15and, presumed scholarly invisi-bility, authority, or objectivity in creating or manipulating an archive is, at best, opaque. "e digital archive (loosely defined for the purposes of this paper as intangible arti-facts accessible by electronic devices) further obfuscates these issues. Geo!rey Batchenrecognizes that the archive is no longer a matter of discrete objects . . . stored and re-trieved in specific places . . . [but] is also a continuous stream of data, without geographyor container, continuously transmitted and therefore without temporal restriction.16Notonly does this archival shift enable hyper-subjectivity with respect to content, it challengesSchwartzs earlier sentiment on the importance of images (digital manipulation easily ob-scures veracity) and still cannot resolve the questions of exclusion, participation, or omis-sion. If the archive has become a fluid exchange dependent upon accessing, creating, andinteractingas opposedto a static display of sequentially progressive developmentthene-waste becomes an indisputable by-product of the digital archive. In China, Burtynsky defines e-waste as the toxic recycling practices and refusefrom industrialized nations continuous upgrading of older communications/electronicinfrastructures with modern ones.17According to an Environment Canada presentationon the management of e-waste, over one hundred forty thousand tons (approximately 4.5

kg per person of combined IT and other household electronics) were disposed of in 2002.Specifically, recycled and disposed IT e-waste (telecom and computer/peripheral e-wasteonly) was projected to grow at an alarming rate, reaching nearly one hundred twentythousand tons by 2005.18In a seminal paper on e-waste written a decade ago, the BaselAction Network (BAN) estimated between 50 and 80 percent of Canadian e-waste waslikely (and, in most cases, illegally) exported to Asia.19BANs research into the high-techtrashing of Asia revealed the transformation of Guiyu,China from a poor, rural rice-growing community to a booming e-waste processing center. Over one hundred thou-sand resident and migrant workers, earning an average wage of USD $1.50 per day,wereemployed in a multitude of recycling operations ranging from dismantling refuse for pri-

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14 Robin Kelsey,Archive Style: Photographs for U.S. Surveys, 18501890(Berkeley, CA: University ofCalifornia Press, 2007), 9, quoted in Joan M. Schwartz, Reading Robin Kelsey sArchive StyleAcross theArchival Divide,Journal of Archival Organization6, no. 3 (2008): 201.15 Schwartz, 209.16 Geo!rey Batchen, Archive, in Deep Storage: Collection, Storing and Archiving, eds. Ingrid Sha!nerand Matthias Winzen (New York: Prestel, 1998), 47.17 Burtynsky et al., 134.18 Michael Vandelpol, Managing E-Waste: Working Towards a Canadian Solution, (EnvironmentCanada, Canadian PollutionPrevention Roundtable, Calgary, AB, June 12, 2003), 78,http://c2p2online.com/documents/michaelvandelpol.pdf. A quick scan of other references estimated Cana-dian e-waste recycling and disposal to reach anywhere between 225,000 and 400,000 tons annually by 2010.

19 Puckett et al., "

e Canadian Story, inExporting Harm:e High-Tech Trashing of Asia, eds. JimPuckett and Ted Smith (Seattle: Basel Action Network, 2002), 3.


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mary materials to the open burning of wires and circuit boards for precious metals recov-ery. Each day hundreds of trucks delivered freshly imported e-waste. During their inves-tigation in Guiyu, BAN documented serious environmental and health concerns includ-ing extremely polluted local drinking water and a variety of hazardous materials and tox-

ins found in e-waste.20In China Recycling #9 (2004), Burtynsky captures the magnitude ofcompounding e-waste through a poignant example. Made with a Linhof Master Tech-nika 4 x 5 large-format camera, and displayed as large as 4 x 5 feet, 21the image depicts avibrant rural landscape up close. A dirt path on the horizonat approximately three-quarters the height of the photographseparates a bamboo-filled background from anundulating foreground of green, beige, and rust. "is multicoloured foreground ripplesfrom the left frame to the centre, as if cascading forward into the space between the im-age and viewer.

It emulates a haphazardly collected pile of fall leaves. "e double-take reveals a fore-ground littered with thousands of stripped circuit boardse-waste, washed up on a roadin Guiyu. Suddenly, Burtynskys fine detail, visible in the circuit board traces, illuminates

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20 Ibid., 1519 passim.21 Marcus Schubert, e-mail message to author, November 15, 2011, China Recycling #9was included inChina; prints were produced in two sizes: 27!x 34!and 39!x 49!.

Fig. 1. Edward Burtynsky, China Recycling #9, Circuit Boards, Guiyu, Guangdong Province,2004. Digital chromogenic print. Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Nicholas Metivier, Toronto.Further images from the series may be found at http://www.edwardburtynsky.com.
http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/


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the sheer volume of the e-waste.22 In Waste and the Sublime Landscape, Boetzkestypifies Burtynskys trash as sublime nature, as the waste itself overtakes natures sub-lime force through its persistence, magnitude, and technological sophistication. 23Whilethe viewer may connect to an open-ended narrativepresumably the juxtaposition of

Western consumerism with technological advancement, and its e!ectsthe focus on thewaste itself limits the viewer from deeper insight.

Materialism does not solely drive the production of e-waste. Human interactionwith and involvement in the growth of the digital archivehow we practically use digitalarchives to manage our lives and work, and how our archives and the internet can beforms of self-expression connected to our identity (or, even in some cases, the productionof other virtual identities)is the missing human element in e-waste accumulation. "erefuse is one facet of an iterative loop. As human engagement with digital archive produc-tion increases, we look for better, faster, more convenient, and more sophisticated ways ofaccessing and manipulating the archive. Old tools, while still useable, are replaced by newtools that allow us to create even closer ties with this archive."e evidence of our intensi-fying relationship with devices is everywheresimply observe the number of people inpublic places transfixed by screens."is intimate dependence feeds ever-increasing speedsof technological advancement and tangible trash. Linking to the concept of identity, asopposed to representing material things, could situate Burtynsky closer to symbolizing theunknowable futurehow identities and livelihoods will be intertwined with digital ar-chives. By humanizing the virtual landscape, Burtynsky could better illustrate how we areall complicit in this growing exploration and production of the digital archive, and itsconsequences.

Interestingly, Burtynsky may already possess images that humanize the virtuallandscape in this fashion. Although he excludes these particular photographs from China,he selectively shares them elsewhere. During his 2005 TED Talk, and in ManufacturedLandscapes, Burtynsky shows three imageswhich I identify as portraits for the purposesof this paperto buttress his e-waste narrative. China Recycling #12a (2004), Recycling #1(2004), and China Recycling #22 (2004),24 with a faceless labourer, a uniformed youngman, and an elderly woman amongst e-waste, form a backdrop for Burtynskys commen-

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22 Burtynsky defines the image as representative of a new landscape arising in Asia, one where West-ern culture is laying itself over onto the Asian culture. He sees this photograph as representative of the scaleand consequence of our economic trade, where our products are driving their economy from original manu-facturing and again through waste. Burtynsky et al., 14.23 Amanda Boetzkes, Waste and the Sublime Landscape, in Landscape, Cultural Spaces, Ecology,eds. Lora Senechal Carney and dith-Anne Pageot, special issue, RACAR (Revue d'art canadienne / Canadian

Art Review)35, no. 1 (2010): 2728.24 In an e-mail exchange with the author between November 14 and 20, 2011, Schubert (BurtynskysDirector of Media, Publications, and Exhibits) revealed that China Recycling #12awas never released for dis-tribution, and Burtynskys o#ce does not possess a scan from the negative. It was taken with a Linhof MasterTechnika 4 x 5 large-format camera, and is a twin image of China Recycling #12, which was published inChina. #12, however, is void of the human element. Recycling #1was taken with a Mamiya 7 medium-formatcamera and was never printed. China Recycling #22, also taken with the large-format Linhof, was the onlyimage of the three released as a print (27!x 34!), available in an edition of fifteen. Over the courseofmyresearch, I was unable to find anything written about these photographs. Again, discussion here about

Burtynskys selective use or inclusion in his photographic archive could be relevant but is outside the scope ofthis paper.


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tary. "ese portraits are in glaring contrast to Burtynskys usual landscapes; there issomething disarming and compelling about them, perhaps because Burtynskys standardstrategy of sizeable, staggering beauty does not apply. In the absence of constructedbeauty, these portraits are less troubled by earlier criticisms of confusion and distraction.

His subject is the individual, and, unlike China Recycling #9, the e-waste becomes a sup-portingyet importantobject in its incongruence with the rest of the image. In fact,these images have the feel of snapshots and appear rather vernacular. If Burtynsky dis-played these alongside his landscapes, he might risk fracturing his cohesion and per-haps, in his view, eroding his reputation which separates him from photography-as-folkclassification. However, I believe there is significant merit in the work these portraits doto picture the possible impact of our growing digital archives. His e-waste portraits helpthe viewer refocus the paradox on a micro issuea growing electronic dependence onmanaging our lives and expressing our identitiesto understand a macro issue: the com-pounding volume of e-waste."e swing from attraction to repulsion might not occur ormight be traded for a less visceral viewer response, but humanization of the archives in-tangibility may help the viewer process its implications di!erently. A closer reading ofthese photographs helps illustrate this argument. In China Recycling #12a,least straightforward of the portraits, the focus is not di-rectly on the human subject; however, the bright orange gloves draw the eye immediately

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Fig. 2. Edward Burtynsky, China Recycling #12a, E-waste Sorting, Zeguo, ZhejiangProvince, 2004. Digital chromogenic print. Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Nicholas

Metivier, Toronto.


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to the intent concentration on their work at the top-centre of the frame. While it couldbe said Burtynskys tilted, downward perspective suggests an attempt to create scale in aclearly small space, the overwhelming metaphor is one of meal preparation and is inti-mate."e large ceramic and clay bowls and wicker baskets hold raw ingredients and con-

diments, various inputs to some complicated recipethe ingredients and recipe being theinterwoven waste and future new tools of the digital archive. "e arrangement of bowlsand baskets implies a clean and organized kitchen workspace, scattered tools recallkitchen utensils, and blue powder (the residue of smashed electronic bits and pieces) islike traces of flour gone astray."e wicker basket and metal container sitting to the left ofthe subject hold unusable ingredients, ones that do not quite fit with the rest of the recipe.An empty stool in the middle-left of the frame, bereft of the subjects companion, indi-cates cooperation and shared investment in this activity. In this image, the digital archivefuels the future; the double meaning attached to fuels is intentional here, meaning thearchive will both sustain us as individuals and literally put food on the table as tradi-tional occupations are usurped by technology. In her book High Tech Trash, author Eliza-beth Grossman comments that before e-waste processing took root in Guiyu, the areahad been agricultural. A glossy 2004 brochure f rom the Guiyu equivalent of the chamberof commerce shows a picture of a plump green watermelon on the vine. But farming in

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Fig. 3. Edward Burtynsky, ChinaRecycling #1, Yard Worker, Guiyu, Guangdong Province,2004. Digital chromogenic print. Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Nicholas Metivier, Toronto.


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Guiyu has been abandoned for the more lucrative scrap electronics work . . . . 25I believethe portraits disruption, from expectations of raw materials to the presence of e-waste,allows the viewer to reflect on ways technology, and the archive, impact lives and liveli-hoods.

Connected to the sustenance metaphor is the idea that virtual stu! will be thebuilding blocks of our identity, as in Recycling #1."e composition of this banal snapshot-type portrait allows the viewer to focus on the subject (a seated young man in the centreof the image), although it has been taken from a distance to include the compacted e-waste terrace behind him."e neat and linear stack of densified cubes resembles an archi-tectural feature, but is also reminiscent of various personal electronics like desktop com-puters, with their rectangular shape and predominantly silver, grey, and beige colouring.Burtynskys yard worker adopts a relaxed posehis cap at a jaunty angle, his hands casu-ally resting on the chair arms, his legs crossedand gazes directly at the viewer with agentle smile, as if showing pride in his work. With this portrait, there is a sense of owner-ship at play between the worker and the objects he claims responsibility for in his yard; Iargue here that we are all partly defined by the work we do, and we seek satisfaction fromour work. As we lean on technology and the digital archive to facilitate our work and ourlives, our identities will become increasingly fastened to virtual stu!.

Lastly, in China Recycling #22, labelled as a portrait by Burtynsky, the viewer is con-fronted with a mesmerizing vision of how we will all live with the consequences of thearchives production. Centre-right in the photograph a diminutive, very elderly womansits in a formal, sti!pose on her front porch next to a pile of e-waste. Her concrete porchis crudely finished, and e-waste detritus lingers everywhere but the clean path to her front

door. Tools are scattered about; a hammer and chisel are near her feet, and a shovel headbalances precariously o!the side of the porch with its handle atop the e-waste pile. "ise-waste is not small, sorted parts, or neat cubes of metal. It is an ugly, jumbled mess:wires, components, circuit boards. "e womans expression is inscrutablea mixture ofpatience, stoicism, humility, determination, or exhaustion? She appears composed in con-trast to her surroundings, yet she is clearly working at physically dismantling this garbage."is portrait raises the question: how long before the e-waste problem will be on ourfront porch?

While Burtynskys portraits work to humanize the virtual landscape, they also tee-ter dangerously on the edge of Othering their subjects. As a privileged Western traveler

in Chinaand an artist whose intent is to avoid polarizing preachingthese portraitscould jeopardize Burtynskys reputation in such a way that would render his concernsabout a photography-as-folk label completely irrelevant. Ballamingie et al. urge West-ern viewers to consider how Burtynskys images seem to reproduce Western-centricstereotypes of the Chinese Other through the strangeness and fearfulness of the scale ofthings, the communication of oppression and passivity, consistent with the somewhatstereotypical (and reductionist) view that the Chinese are subjects who just do what theyare told, and the characterization of pitied as the oppressed and lifeless or dismissed as

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25 Elizabeth Grossman, High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health(Washing-ton, DC: Island Press, 2006), 187.


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the duped.26 All three portraits could be read as containing strong social and environ-mental inequities. In addition, Ballamingie et al. ask whether Burtynskys photographsemploy either overexposure or underexposure to picture the Other. By selectively choos-ing how these portraits are shared and distributed, is Burtynsky underexposing his sub-jects in ways that limit viewers from fully developing an open-ended narrative? While China Recycling #12amay be the least identifiable as a portrait, it perhapscarries the most significant potential for Othering its subject."ere is the obvious issue ofthe faceless, agency-less subject portrayed from an angle that looks down upon theirwork; additionally, there is Burtynskys questionable choice to publish the version withouthuman figures in it in China. "e workplace environment captured in this image evokesthe stereotype of a noninstitutional, unsophisticated cottage industry; akin to a Westernmom-and-pop shop or corner grocery storethis e-waste business is a beacon of opti-mistic entrepreneurial spirit. Other firsthand accounts of e-waste meal preparation,however, do not match Burtynskys orderly outdoor kitchen scene: In smaller outdoorworkshops we see chopped-up circuit boards being roasted in uncovered pans to meltaway plastics and isolate valuable metals. "e scene reminds me of the open-air restau-rants Ive visited in China, but instead of pan-fried noodles the fare here is seared semi-

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26 Ballamingie et al., 7273. In their paper, Ballamingie et al. reference only published images and donot touch on the portraits discussed in this paper.

Fig. 4. Edward Burtynsky, China Recycling #22, Portrait of a Woman in Blue, Zeguo,Zhejiang Province, 2004. Digital chromogenic print. Edward Burtynsky, courtesyNicholas Metivier, Toronto.


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conductor, replete with lead, brominated flame retardants, and plasticizers.27 While notbeautiful in the same sense as his landscapes, this portrait has been sterilized. It seems toromanticize, or lament, the workers decision to turn away from a noble, agricultural life-style and overlays this sensibility on their new working environment. By capturing the

subject with their head down and working hard, Burtynsky also appears to emphasizetheir disposability, their tiny role and futile responsibility inside the countrys quasi-capitalist machine. Similarly, with China Recycling #22, Burtynsky explains this nostalgia for rural lifethrough the woman in blue. He was evidently drawn to this ninety-five-year-old woman(she agreed to sit for the portrait) who bore witness to many political transitions inChina. Shes been through Mao, and shes been through the Great Leap Forward, andthe Cultural Revolution, and now shes sitting on her porch with this e-waste beside her.Its quite something.28 Burtynsky editorializes, though, that todays e-waste transitioncarries harsher consequenceshealth problems, birth defects, illnessesand summarizesher expression as sadness from the transition from rural life to a life of recyclingcomputers.29With this comment, Burtynsky reduces the elderly woman to an object ofChinas political machinations. "e evidence of hardship and poverty are a foil to herpride in appearance and dignity. Is she truly sad for progresss sakeor is this a projec-tion, a layer of Western guilt? Burtynsky accepts this is an untenable environment, butholds it up as an example of a solely Chinese economic issue. Finally, a comparable assessment applies to Recycling #1. Closer inspection revealsthe yard workers uniform is not the solid olive drab seen at first glance. His jacket, espe-cially, seems covered in an oily substancenot wet, but saturated (as are his gloves, and

pants to his knees). He begins to look dislocated, dirty, and perhaps slightly uncomfort-able in the tidy, swept yard. Firsthand accounts claim workers in Guiyu bemoaned thepollution and the many unsavoury aspects of the opportunistic waste trade, saying theydidnt want their children . . . to engage in this work.30 Photographs accompanyingBANs treatise also picture Guiyu e-waste recycling operations in a starkly di!erent light.Burn yards are a sea of colourful, intermingled wires by day and melting pools of toxichydrocarbons and dioxins at night. Other typical e-scrap operations nowhere near re-semble Recycling #1s yard. Instead, desktop computer covers gaping and disman-tledsit askew amongst overwhelmingly diverse piles of assorted waste; one overturnedcover doubles as a workers stool. In BANs images, none of the individuals, save for one

sporting lemon-yellow rubber gloves while heating aqua regia (a solution that dissolvesgold), wear work clothing.31 Does Burtynskys portrait, then, glorify e-waste recycling?Would a Western viewer, burdened with expectations of appropriate environmental stew-ardship and behaviour, therefore project the notion of pride in good work onto this por-

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27 Grossman, 183.28 Edward Burtynsky, Edward Burtynsky: Manufactured Landscapes, filmed February 2005, TEDTalks, 34:28, posted October 2006,http://www.ted.com/talks/edward_burtynsky_on_manufactured_landscapes.html.29 Edward Burtynsky, Special Features: Stills Gallery with Commentary,Manufactured Landscapes.30 Grossman, 187.31 Puckett et al. ,Exporting Harm, 69.
http://www.ted.com/talks/edward_burtynsky_on_manufactured_landscapes.htmlhttp://www.ted.com/talks/edward_burtynsky_on_manufactured_landscapes.html


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trait? Or, does the yard worker become a character in a photographic satire which exposesthe inadequacy of his protective equipment and hints at his polluted environment? "eirony is that this good work is not at all good, and will get worse as the digital archive ma-tures.

Ultimately, some controversy over Otheringa kind of white trash coloniza-tionin these portraits might yield positive dialogue for Burtynsky and his viewers."isnew type of paradox, still somewhat grounded in a dichotomy of attraction versus repul-sion, could neutralize indi!erenceor the fear of reducing Burtynskys photographs towallpaperby forcing the viewer to self-reflect. Burtynskys landscapes lose the viewersindividual sense of self, as the prominence of size, scale, and magnitude points to the col-lective. In contrast, Burtynskys portraits bond instead with ideas of identity and identifi-cation. "e disruptive presence of e-waste presses the viewerand particularly Westernviewers aware of Chinas dominance in manufacturing, and its related environmental andsocial impactsto consider how their lives, livelihoods, environment, and surroundingsare a!ected by technology. By humanizing the indescribable virtual landscape, Burtyn-skys portraits allow viewers the space to contemplate their role in the paradox of the digi-tal archivea seemingly boundary-less virtual repository with tangible, physical manifes-tations.

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