Manufactured Landscapes is the 2006 documentary that follows Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky as he travels around the world to create his disconcerting landscape photos showing humanity's impact on the environment in specific locations on a scale that is usually hard to fully comprehend. His photos drive home the environmental message with which we have been bombarded, but in a way that is arresting. Once you look, you are drawn in. The ambiguity results from the interplay of the stunning beauty of his photos while also being disconcerting - in good conscience we should not see beauty in such destruction. As he says, we prefer to push these places out of our consciousness, but that does not make them any less real and in many cases, exploitative of the people who work there, notably the Bangladesh ship breaking yards where old ships go to die. 

The bulk of the documentary is set in China where he documents the industrial expansion of that country and its effects, largely on the landscape and by extension on the country's people. The film's unforgettable opening is a five minute, unrelenting shot through unending benches for workers in a Chinese factory. It immediately drives home the sense of scale that he documents and only ends with the photos he took at the location as well as interviews with workers and others to explain the factory's organization and the way of life of those who work there.

Burtynsky explains his series in a TED Talk from 2005 where his thoughtfulness shines. My only disappointment is his dancing around whether he is an environmentalist. As an artist, I know he wants to ask questions rather than adopt a specific viewpoint or preferred solution. That is the usual role of artists but the reality of his photos underlines the environmentalist viewpoint, even if most of us are quite happy to reap the benefits of environmental degradation through a prosperous lifestyle, a position he also acknowledges is his own.

Over the years, I have been to a number of Burtynsky's exhibits at various museums and galleries, most recently his Watermark series that is also accompanied by a documentary. The photos are always large and carefully considered from the starting point of seeking out an image to final production. Spontaneity is not the point of his work. For me, the most telling point of his process goes back to the description of his turning point as a landscape photographer when he got lost driving in the United States and happened to find a quarry at hand. Seeing its ugly beauty, he knew that he had to explore that line of imagery or become a calendar landscape photographer. 

He continues developing that initial insight and sharing his powerful vision of a world wounded by our activity that he renders beautiful, while also disturbing for what it shows us about what we would prefer not to see about ourselves.

If you only want to understand the power of modern art, watch Waste Land, the 2010 documentary about Brazilian born artist Vik Muniz. 

Muniz's practice is based on drawing with the most unexpected of all materials - sugar, back hoes, spaghetti. This documentary follows him on a project in Jardim Gramacho, at the time the world's largest garbage landfill in Rio de Janeiro. He enlists the recyclers who live nearby and work in the landfill to help him sift through material and pose for photographs that he will draw with garbage.

For me, the most telling moment was when the finished products of his work - a photo series - went on sale at a big London auction. All the other work at the show seemed ironic and detached. It felt like the artists were laughing at us if we were not in on the joke. Muniz was there with some of the those who worked with him and lived in Jardim Gramacho. It was a moment of exquisite humanity but seemingly characteristic of Muniz for whom fame and celebrity have not made him lose his connection to people.

Unlike most other movies about artists that always include side interviews with their assistants, for this project his assistants are people who live just above the poverty line and take pride in their work even if it is easy to find it repulsive. In other documentaries, the assistants are all artists as well, seeking to learn from a master but fully immersed in the world of art. That telling difference with other documentaries shows how Muniz has maintained a connection with people despite being one of the world's leading artists. 

Along with the refreshing humanity that he brings to his work, Muniz is also an imaginative innovator, finding new and different ways to draw with the most unexpected materials that carry their own story and meaning to his art. I often hear people comment that today's art will not stack up against the art of past centuries. I believe Muniz's art will stand the test of time because of his artistic talent but also because of the humanity he expresses in his art.

Thanks for reading!