Waste Land

Waste Land is a film unlike any other I have seen before. Filmed over a period of nearly three years, Waste Land follows renowned artist Vik Muniz and his journey from his current home in Brooklyn to his native land Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro (“Waste Land”). In Gramacho, he photographs a select number of “catadores”, or pickers of recyclable materials. He and his catadores then recreate the pictures using garbage from the dump. Vik wants to change the lives of this group of people with the same material they deal with every day. And he succeeds.  

It is incredibly moving to hear the stories of each picker. An 18-year-old woman (depicted with her children in the middle image above) has been working at Gramacho since she was seven years old to help her family. She explains that she is not ashamed to be a picker because it allows her to provide for her new young family and is a far better job than other girls choose, like prostitution.

The film follows Vik and the catadore, Tiaõ, to London where they auction Tiaõ’s portrait (the one on the right above). Tiaõ is president of the ACAMJG (the Association of Recycling Pickers of Jardim Gramacho), a co-operative he created to improve the lives of his fellow catadores. Inspired by the political texts he found in the waste, Tiaõ had to convince his co-workers that organizing their efforts could make a difference (“Waste Land”). Tiaõ, a picker since age 11, is overwhelmed with emotion to witness the auction of his portrait for $50,000. Vik gave all the money to the ACAMJG, the organization Tiaõ had worked so hard for, even when no one believed in him.

It brought me to tears watching Tiaõ at the auction. I was alsmo moved to see the other catadores receiving copies of their own portraits and the whole group together in front of their exhibit at the Rio de Janeiro museum. Each individual’s life was changed through this experience with Vik because it allowed them to re-imagine their lives and aim for a different future.

I would highly recommend this film to all of you. The trailer is below.

Sources Consulted

"Waste Land." Waste Land Movie. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.

<http://www.wastelandmovie.com/synopsis.html>.