Waste Land

Hello everyone!

This week I had the opportunity to watch Waste Land, a documentary about a project by the famous artist Vik Muniz. Muniz is an artist from Brazil that currently lives in New York City. For one of his many projects, Muniz returned to Brazil to use the “recyclable material pickers” of Jardim Gramacho (the largest garbage dump in the world) as his subjects.

Essentially Muniz takes photographs of these people that scavenge through the garbage dump for recyclable material and recreates the pictures using garbage from the dump itself.

http://www.wastelandmovie.com/gallery.html

However this documentary, and Muniz’s purpose, is much deeper than a man who uses garbage to create art.

Muniz’s project changed the lives of the “pickers” of the Association of Recycling Pickers of Jardim Gramacho. These beautiful people, whose reality is picking through the garbage day by day in order to make money from selling recyclable materials, change through this experience. I believe that Muniz and his crew were able to show these workers their true self worth. Though they only seem like humble garbage pickers at first, these people are truly special in the way they live their lives, care for their families, and do their best to make a living in the world. They are able to see how important they truly are as they become more involved in the art and share their stories.

http://www.wastelandmovie.com/gallery.html

What this documentary has shown me is how powerful the impact of art can be on individuals and how important it is to invite others to share their life stories while showing them that they really do matter.

Watching Waste Land brought this scripture into my mind: “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.” (D&C 18:10) I was reminded very strongly that every individual has a divine nature and purpose and we are all of unimaginable importance to our Heavenly Father.

I think we should all promise to do more to not only remember our own self worth, but the self worth of our brothers and sisters throughout the world. Vik Muniz is a wonderful example of this. I admire the way he used his success with the project to help the Association of Recycling Pickers of Jardim Gramacho by donating all of the money earned from selling the portraits at auction. Not only did he change their lives through art, Muniz helped build new homes, a learning center, a library, and many other things for the workers.

I know that I may not have as big of an impact as Vik Muniz, but I hope that I will be able to follow his example of service and learning to love the people around me.

Hardy

Waste Land is available on Netflix, and you may view the trailer at this website: http://www.wastelandmovie.com