​​​​​​​Global Warning: Visions from the Anthropocene with Garth Lenz

ROM Speaks
Global Warning: Visions from the Anthropocene with Garth Lenz
Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

A feature program of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.

From the majesty of Canada’s old growth forests to the stark environmental impacts of fossil fuel production, Garth Lenz is no stranger to the natural beauty of our planet, or to our responsibility to preserve it.

In this special evening program, Lenz, a featured photographer in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, shares his stunning images and thoughtful narrative as we consider the fragility of our natural world, the harsh contrast between the environment and industrial production, and the associated impacts of industry on the natural landscape and Indigenous populations.

Lenz began his career documenting some of Canada’s most iconic natural landscapes, from the beauty of the Coastal Temperate Rainforests in his home province of British Columbia to the old growth majesty of Canada’s Boreal Forest. His current work has turned increasingly to the industrial landscapes that define fossil fuel production, and their associated impacts on the natural environment. Often photographed from above, his sweeping panoramas provide a powerful, unprecedented view of the stark contrast between the industrial and the natural, and a visual reminder of the vulnerability of our natural world.

Admission to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition is included in the evening’s agenda.

Mingle and enjoy wine and cheese at a cash-bar reception with the speaker and other attendees after the talk.

About Garth Lenz

Garth Lenz is an editorial and fine art photographer based on the west coast of Canada. While global deforestation and the world’s old growth forests were major focuses in his early work, in recent years, much of Lenz’s photography has centered around the world of fossil fuel production, climate change, and their associated impacts on the natural environment. Lenz often photographs from the air as a means to communicate the unprecedented scale of industrialism’s environmental impact, and to document remaining areas of large, intact ecosystems.

Lenz’s current independent exhibit, The True Cost of Oil, has been published in some of the most prestigious editorial and fine art publications, and was exhibited in New York, Paris, London, Boston, Los Angeles, Montreal, at Germany’s GDT photography festival, and in other major art and photography centres. Now translated into 24 languages, his associated TED talk, The True Cost of Oil, has received over 830,000 views online.

A popular public speaker, Lenz has spoken on the issues of conservation and sustainability at major corporations, government bodies, and academic centres around the world, including the European Parliament, Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard universities, the Royal Geographical Society, and London’s Natural History Museum. In 2009, he was named a Senior Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, one of only 60 photographers in the world to receive this honour.