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Living in a Material World
Industrial documentary photography has a long and distinguished history. The works of Lewis Hines, Margaret Bourke-White and Walker Evans, among others, loom large.
Recent Canadian photography has had two extremely capable practitioners of this genre. Edward Burtynsky takes large format, full colour photos of quarries, industrial dump sites and other places where the human hand has been overly influential. Many of these photos are stunning, in size, execution but also in subject matter for they show us the extent of our abilities to gouge, dig up and change the world around us.
On the other end of the spectrum is Toronto artist Peter MacCallum, whose work can currently be seen at the Peak Gallery. MacCallum’s black and white photos are largely of the interior spaces of factories and warehouses. Compared to Burtynsky’s overwhelming photos MacCallum’s have a surprising intimacy. Comparing the two would be pairing up a string quartet with a symphony, both have stylistic differences, strengths and weaknesses but if one wants a full understanding of music, neither can be ignored.
The photographs of Peter MacCallum are also available in Peter MacCallum: Material World, published by YYZ Books.