What I really want to do is change the lives of a group of people with the same materials they use every day.
–Vik Muniz

When one thinks about landfills, one certainly doesn’t think about art. Of course, the materials that many street artists and modern artists utilize today range far and wide. Documentarian Lucy Walker finds the beauty, passion and surprising moments among the ruins of Brazil’s Jardim Gramacho, the largest landfill site in the world. There’s no recycling so “pickers” go through the garbage for paper, plastic, metal etc to be sorted and shipped to various places. Each household generates approximately 1 kg of garbage; within that is 500 g of recyclable material. Watching the truckloads of trash flowing into the landfill, it’s nearly impossible to imagine a worse job in the world.These workers smile, support one another and aren’t bitter. Incredibly talented Brooklyn-based modern artist Vik Muniz grew up impoverished in Sao Paulo. He chose to travel to the world’s largest landfill to get to know the workers and create amazing art based on his observations and what he learns about them as individuals. His goal was to work with the pickers and include the recyclable materials as a way to give back to these hard-working, often overlooked people. Waste Land is the most poignant, enchanting documentary I’ve seen in a long time.

web site

purchase at Amazon: Waste Land