Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Art and Social Change


  Waste Land is a documentary by Lucy Walker, discussing the works of Vic Muniz. Vick Muniz travels to Brazil to work with the men and women who pick through the refuse, to be able to work and create art out of recycled materials. In his desire to assist the catadores also known as garbage pickers, and change their lives, Muniz finds himself changed as well. 

Vick Muniz, a Brazilian artist known for using uncommon and irregular materials to create portraits of marginalized people, set out to paint the catadores with the garbage that they spent their day sorting through. In deciding to turn the project into a collaboration he decides that all proceeds from the photographs he creates of the finished pieces go back to the catadores, which they can use to improve their living conditions, go to school, invest in the co-op, keep their trucks in working order and even build a library. The pickers report that the project has helped lift some of the social stigma surrounding their profession, and the Brazilian government is now using the film to promote recycling nationwide.  
The most important thing that I took from this film is that art can change the lives in small and great ways. Muniz learned that the people that he has worked with are strong survivors, he began to connect with them on a sentimental level, which influenced him to help them in any way that he could.
The power of art can change society.
                




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