Photographer Burtynsky gives B.C. gallery dozens of artworks

The Surrey Art Gallery has received what it calls its "most significant gift ever," thanks to celebratedphotographer Edward Burtynsky, who donated more than three dozen of his large-format images to the B.C. venue.

Surrey officials saidthe Toronto-based photographer has donated 37 of his works to the gallery, which ishosting Edward Burtynsky: Uneasy Beauty, a solo exhibit featuring images of Western Canada.

Judy Villeneuve, a Surreycity councillor, thankedBurtynsky for his gift, "his support for the Surrey Art Gallery and the legacy these photographs will leave for our citizens for generations."

Mostof the photos donated areon display as part of Uneasy Beauty. The exhibit, in turn, is being presented as part of the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad, which began Sunday.

Featuring Canadian landscapes both natural and industrial, the donated images span more than two decades of work and hail from six of Burtynsky's photo series: Alberta Oil Sands, Container Ports, Homesteads, Mines, Oil Fields and Railcuts.

"These images are meant as metaphors to the dilemma of our modern existence," Burtynsky said.

"Our dependence on nature to provide the materials for our consumption and our concern for the health of our planet sets us into an uneasy contradiction. For me, these images function as reflecting pools of our times."

Burtynsky, whose work iscollected bymuseums across Canada and abroad, is scheduled to appear at the Surrey Art Galleryon Feb. 12 to speak about his work.

Edward Burtynsky: Uneasy Beauty, which focuses on images of B.C. and Alberta, continues at the Surrey gallery until March 22.