Waste Land: Bridging Art and Social Cause
Source: Vik Muniz Studio
Environmental documentaries have taken prominence in mainstream film particularly following Al Gore’s successful full-feature ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ in 2006. Lucy Walker’s ‘Waste Land,’ a riveting insight into one artist’ quest to create art from discarded materials, pars quite eloquently above your average eco-documentary. The film, an Oscar-nominated title, takes a fascinating look at the work of Vik Muniz, a Brazilian artist who creates art using unconventional materials such as dirt, sugar, and other junk materials.
There is an intriguing element to the documentary, one that unfolds against the impoverished backdrop of Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest landfill site in Rio De Janeiro. Regarded as one of the poorest favellas in the Brazilian capital, the site shelters over 3000 rubbish pickers, or catadores as they are locally known. Upon first impression, the colossal rubbish tip has no apparent value, but there is beauty even in the most obscure of places, and to quite opposite effect, fuels the beginning of a bold community-meets-art project.
For Muniz, the creative process begins with a simple photograph. The image is then projected on to his studio floor, meticulously carved out using selected items from the rubbish dump, and captured from a bird’s eye view as the final product.
Muniz recreates ‘Death of Marat’ painting using recycled materials, photographing Tiao, president of the Association of Pickers of Jardim Gramacho as his subject. | Source: Vik Muniz Studio
Irma, one of site’s residents, cooks unspoiled meat found on the site for the pickers. | Source: Vik Muniz Studio
Close-up of Irma's portrait | Source: Vik Muniz Studio
The project is a collaborative effort between Muniz and the featured catadores. He instructs, they assemble the pieces accordingly, and as the documentary progresses, a beautiful bond between the artist and his subjects emerge. Despite their crippling hardships, there is an uplifting sense of camaraderie between the catadores, which director Lucy Walker captures brilliantly.
In one particular scene, Muniz is seen giving an introductory presentation to the catadores, who are seated in front of him and a slide projector.
“Everyone who goes to a museum, goes up to a painting, and they stop and start to go like this,” he explains, rocking back and forth in a standing position. “And they lean in and everything vanishes and becomes paint. They see the material. They move away and see the image. They move closer, they see the material. They move away they see the idea.”
And like his ambitious project, there is a greater meaning woven in the fabric of his art. Upon close inspection, the project is made out entirely of rubbish, discarded and useless garbage. But from a further distance, an image emerges. The rubbish becomes an image, and this image represents an idea.
These pickers, like rubbish, have been forgotten by society, classed out in favelas where they live in impoverished conditions. Tiao, president of the Association of Pickers of Jardim Gramacho, and one of the projects’ subjects says the association has built a recycling center without any financial contribution from the city. Together, they remove 200 tons of recyclable materials from the landfill each day; one the highest recycling rates in the world. And through Muniz’s art, we are reminded of their efforts, and more startlingly, the amount of waste we are accountable for.
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