Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Waste Land

Waste Land  
Vik Muniz
2010 Biography/ Documentary


The most rewarding experience of viewing this documentary was getting to know the subjects of the project as well as getting to see how Vik Muniz interacts with his subjects and his work.  This video highlights how by a strange turn of events and how Muniz puts it “luck” he was shot and given money to come to America, changing his life forever.  He was planning on going to the Jardim Garmacho landfill and meeting drug dealers and people that would be hard on life.  Instead he meets strong men and women and gave them a new perspective on life.  Vik Muniz quotes “They get to see another reality… I grew up not having anything and wanting everything and now I have everything and want for nothing… They just weren’t very lucky, but we are going to change that.”  He did change that he raised a lot of money for the picker and was able to give the dream of a library to the community.


The topic of class discussion was whether these individuals should be further involved because they may not be able to psychologically handle the repercussions of having to go back to their lives before the project.  I am proud of Vik Muniz for shaking up their everyday lives and further involving them.  The point of this endeavor was that after it was complete, they could choose their own destiny.  Either return to the landfill or chose a different path.  The pickers lives were changed, and you could see it come to fruition at the end of the video when they get to hold and own the images of themselves, their contribution, their experience. 





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