Edward Burtynsky gifts photos to Vancouver Art Gallery

Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, famed for his striking images depicting humanity's incursions into the natural world, is donating 34 works to the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Gallery officials announced the donation today, adding that the gift will bring the VAG's total collection of Burtynsky works to 44 of his large-format photos.

"This extraordinary addition not only greatly expands the range of Burtynskys oeuvre in the gallery's collection, but also builds further depth to the gallery's already significant photo-based collection of works by leading contemporary artists," director Kathleen Bartels said in a statement.

The donated works date from 1983 to 2013, spanning decades of the St. Catharines, Ont-born, Toronto-based Burtynsky's career capturing massive manufacturing plants and industrial sites, the oilsands, mines, rock quarries, ship-breaking yards and waterways.

The 34 images depict scenes from across the globe, including British Columbia, Australia, Iceland, Spain and China.

Over the years, Burtynsky has won a host of awards, including the $20,000 MOCCA Award in Contemporary Art in 2010, and his work has toured to galleries around the globe.

His striking scenes reached even wider audiences with the release of the acclaimed 2006 film Manufactured Landscapes, a portrait of the industrial world as captured through his lens and directed by veteran documentary-maker Jennifer Baichwal.

Last month, Burtynsky's own feature film directorial debut the documentary Watermark, which he co-directed with Baichwal won the $100,000 Best Canadian Film Award from the Toronto Film Critics Association.

• Watermark doc wins $100K prize from Toronto film critics

The VAG's 44 works will be on show during the gallery's upcoming exhibition A Terrible Beauty: Edward Burtynsky, which runs at the Vancouver museum March 1 to May 26.