Desert Walk (Dispersed), Lençóis Maranhenses, 2013

Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses is located in Maranhão state, northeastern Brazil, just east of the Baía de São José. Seen from the air, the dunes look like white sheets spread across the ground. In fact, the name of this place, Lençóis Maranhenses, translates into the “bed sheets of Maranhão”. By most technical standards, the landscape isn’t really a proper desert despite it the dunes appearance.  Over forty-seven inches of rainfalls onto the region each year, flooding the sand valleys and bringing in with it fish from two rivers. Some of these temporary bodies of water are more than 300 feet long and up to ten feet deep. Because of the nature of the park’s protected status, motorized vehicles are forbidden within its perimeter. To gather these images, I traveled by foot with a local guide on several daily and overnight expeditions across the dunes. The aerial images were made while flying in an open door aircraft at roughly 500 feet, a very rough and choppy adventure.

-David Burdeny

David Burdeny initiated his career with the Jennifer Kostuik Gallery in 2001 and has been exhibiting his images from the world over, including Antarctica, Iceland, Brazil, China, Burma, Cambodia, France, Italy, Canada and the USA. Known for his finely composed photographs, Burdeny has spent the past 25 years exploring a variegated photographic Landscape ranging from minimal seascapes, ornate European interiors to abstract aerial images. Widely collected in Canada, the USA, Asia and Europe, the sheer beauty of David’s images has firmly placed him within the realm of Canada’s most sought after photo-based artists. Burdeny has an innate curiosity for new subjects and themes, producing over 20 themed photographic series. Be it mounting a camera beneath a self-built drone, shooting from the deck of an Antarctic bound icebreaker, or waiting for an ocean tide to advance, he faithfully embeds his own formal signature into each and every image, further expressing a life long passion for the built environment and the camera’s interpretation of it.

David Burdeny’s Masters in Architecture and Interior Design background combined with his upbringing in the vast Canadian prairies provides the template for his keen technical ability, enduring patience and minimalist aesthetic.