Week of November 18- Art & Social Change

Documentary: Wasteland ft. Vic Muniz


Vic Muniz made great impact on the people of brazil through the documentary he made about the pickers and a detailed and informative sub- biography on a few of the pickers and their personal lives. This included their background story, and a little info on their position financially, and in the social class system of brazil. I feel that it was positive to a certain extent, what was done by Muniz and his co-workers, however I feel that the pickers he used were somewhat exploited, through the light in which they were shown. In other words I feel like the way he chose to portray the pickers in the collaborative artworks was sort of what someone looking in from the outside would expect the pickers to look like being from a poor nation. Instead of the art being of them in their natural state Muniz would have them assume a character, like the man he asked to get into a bath tub to symbolize the death of Marat. This man was of a higher education and worked with the representation of the pickers, and could have been showed in a more noble light, however he was to assume, even mimic that of a non original artwork. I feel that this was done to gain more of an empathetic reaction from those bidding, however it was positive that the pickers received some percentage of what was produced, and it benefited them and their families, and communities.