Vik Muniz

This piece of artwork is called, Atlas (Carlão), and is from the series "Pictures of Garbage". This piece of artwork is so unique in many ways. To begin with, Muniz is a genius when it comes to finding materials to create art with.  He has been known to use unusual materials such as chocolate, jelly, and even sugar to create his masterpieces.  With this one project he chose to use garbage as his material.  He traveled to his hometown of Brazil and traveled to the Jardim Gramacho, which is the world's largest garbage dump.  He wanted to show the other end of the consumer culture and the conditions these workers have to work in.  Secondly, Muniz is able to portray emotion with his work.  By looking at his artwork, you can get a sense of  how the workers were feeling. Muniz thought that they would be depressed, beaten and broken down,  but he soon learned that the workers had pride in their job.  These workers are survivors and put in long hours of work every single day just to get by.  That much dedication deserves recognition.  When I look at this picture, I see a man who may be exhausted but he is going out and putting in his all in order to support his family and he should take pride in that.  What makes this artist even more wonderful is that he gives back.  Muniz took all the profits that he made from this series and gave it to the labor union of Jardim Gramacho so they could use it to protect and educate their workers.