Waste Land shows the lives of some of the poorest people in Rio de Janeiro. They call themselves pickers because they spend their days picking through trash that comes to the Jardim Gramacho dump. The pickers live in extreme poverty, and the only money they earn comes from collecting recyclables. They struggle through everyday life with little to no assistance from their government, and with other classes looking down on them with judgment. Vik Muniz understands these struggles first hand, and decides to bring the public’s attention to them in his art. Using the same trash that the pickers spend their days collecting, Muniz creates portraits of some of the workers. After he sells the portraits in various auctions, he then gives the money to …show more content…
The trash is not just something that gets thrown away, and neither are the pickers. Every person that works at the dump is there for a different reason. Some do it to help support their families, some because they have nowhere else to go, and some have been doing it their whole lives. Every picker has a story, and reason to be there. Vik Muniz tries to show part of their personalities, and stories in his work. He depicts the cook holding a huge pot over her head, the dedicated mother hugging her children, the hardworking woman supporting herself, and many others. As previously stated, the pickers are proud to work with trash because they would rather earn their money honestly than any other way. Using trash in the portrait is symbolic because they would not be who they are without it. Even though they struggle through life, the trash has always been a way to earn money, and keep them going. Despite every portrait being made from trash they are all very different. Each one is just as unique as the picker they represent when one looks past the garbage, and sees the real