14- Waste Land- The Underrated Power of Art

By: Rob and Jagger

How can we save people? Society brings us up to believe that money defines happiness and without money we’re considered useless. Should money really sustain so much power in today’s world? After watching the two films, Waste Land and Born into Brothels we were able to visually and emotionally understand the hardships for certain people in life and see how art actually can be used to create a new future for these individuals living in poverty.

Waste Land

The title pretty much sums it all up, when we are introduced to the world’s largest landfill known as Jardim Gramacho just outside Rio de Janeiro. This film is a 100 minute Brazilian documentary film directed by Lucy Walker and follows renowned Brazilian artist Vik Muniz as he travels to this landfill in attempt to change the lives of the pickers of recyclable materials only for his life to change in the process as well. The film is structured in a way that sees to document Vik's experience in Jardim Gramacho along with the a few selected pickers who work there. With the help of interviews of these characters, the viewer is able to not just able to learn about the characters but also identify with them the struggles that everyday life presents.  Vik starts to see the resemblance he has to all these individuals working there being that he was once growing up in Brazil with practically nothing and something as small as getting shot made the difference for him to leave to chase his dream. We see that the individuals in this film have their own dreams and it is simply the landfill that is standing in their way.

This is not to say that the characters we are introduced to at Jardim Gramacho are all similar people who are constantly loathing over their unfortunate situations. A young man named Tiao Santos who is considered the voice of the pickers, and is president of the Association of Recycling Pickers of Jardim Gramacho. This man shows the viewer how to make the best out of the worse situation, apparent by his happy go lucky attitude towards life. His appreciation towards life makes us question the manner that we conduct our lives such as the abusiveness of our resources as apparent by the massive amount of recyclable materials send to Jardim Gramacho. As well, we see the additional introduction of other workers at the landfill who are so down with their life like the cook Irma. She takes pride in cooking for the pickers and is always determined to ensure they will get a meal. Even at the end of the film where she has the capability to run a restaurant, she eventually returns to landfill due to her inability to leave the kind people there.

After getting a relative idea of several of the pickers’’ stories, Vik Muniz gets to his main purpose for this trip, to give back with art. The power of art can be underestimated by many and it is through Vik Muniz attempt to recreate photos of the pickers with these recyclable materials allows us think about the situation of each individual depicted in the pictures. As well, Muniz allows for the assistance of each picker to help create their specific picture with the recyclable materials and we get to see them unleash their inner creativity which is being isn't being exposed at the landfill. With their composition of these pictures, the pickers become full of life once they realize what they have created and analyse the beauty behind each one’s portrait. Even those who were ashamed of their employment at the landfill such as Magna, after the portraits were created she realized that it is her job that allowed for the inspiration behind this incredibly symbolic piece of art. 

The pickers use of imagination in the making of these pictures allows them to see the world clearer and realize they can overcome their situations. In the end of the film it is said that many abandon their jobs at the landfill, proving the pickers' determination to do something with their lives, such as Magna working for a pharmacist  or even Tiao acclaimed fame by staring in a Coca-Cola commercial to promote recycling. As we know imagination is the first step to renewal, and it is through the release of creativity/imagination by these individuals that they all of sudden strive for change and believe that there for them in life then just picking up recyclable materials in Jardim Gramacho.

What makes the pictures so captivating from this movie is it literally tells the story of each individual. The materials that they have spent most of their life around are used to create these captivating images of each picker along with the reference of an already existing painting including the Death of Marat by Jacques Louis David and the Women Ironing by Pablo Picasso. We see that this recreation of historical art proves to be beneficial for the group as these are auctioned off at expense amounts, allowing all that time and effort to be put to good use in the improvement of conditions of the pickers at the landfill.

The ending of the film gives us an idea of how art is underrated as far as methods to improve people’s standard of living. Vic Muniz brought out the creativity in a group of people, who initially probably didn't think they had it in them, but now they all still have a chance to make something of their lives and we can learn to appreciate our living conditions even more.

(Tiao Santos now in a Coca-Cola (Brazil) recycle promotional commercial)

Born into Brothels

This extremely emotional American 85 minute documentary film directed by Zana Briski is about children in Calcutta. It sees to film the events of everyday life of these children, along with one on one interviews with them and some of their family members.  The children are being raised in a red light district and are on a path to joining their family members as prostitutes. Just as in Waste Land, we see a documentary photographer named Briski attempt to change the lives of these kids through the power of art. However unlike Waste Land, she does this by trying to get the children to take an interest in photography. At first, Briski never really had any objective of making these kids become professional photographers, but as the movie progresses we see that many of the children actually have talent and show a true passion for photography. We see them use photography to best depict their everyday struggles but at the same time still manage to not sob about it and perform their chores or whatever needs to be done to provide for the family.

It is through the documentation of this group’s life and the photos that they take that we can appreciate our own lives so much more and at the same time realize the effects art has on us. These children who have little education are able to prove their talents within the field of photography, so what that saying about Western societies. That if you don’t have some sort of degree or education in photography, that you are automatically labelled as unfit to become a photographer. We are all individually artistic and creative thus once we open our mind and channel our inner creativity, we are capable of producing phenomenal art. Take for example one of the children named Avijit and his contagious smile and excitement when in the presence of photography. He is one of the most talented amateur photographers of the kids and we can see his enthusiasm about this form of art, especially when he is taken on a plane to a photography conference in Amsterdam. Avijit just like many of the characters in Waste Land, sees the world in a much clearer manner and all the opportunities it contains after his introduction to the power of art.

It is sad to say that the story doesn't necessarily end in such a positive manner like Waste Land. Briski did pretty much all she could do and should’ve proud of her work considering she was able to get the photographs by the children displayed exhibited, with many individuals admiring its beauty. As well, she is able to get most of the kids to attend boarding school and even Avijit gets the opportunity to attend a photography conference in Amsterdam. While some are fortunate enough to commit themselves to the schooling they received and achieve good grades out of it, we learn many went back to the brothel. This is just further proving how bad poverty is in some location and once individuals are tied into it, it’s like a virus that won’t go away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdZI5K3mf-0 (One of the children (Avijit) is interviewed 9 years after the film about life and his success in film studies at NYU.)

Reflections on the films

Wasteland really showed us on how the power of art can change somebodies life completely. When you hear of art changing somebodies life you tend to find it hard to believe because you probably think it is just a drawing or painting on a piece of paper. Vik Muniz does a good job of getting us to really know some of the workers by going to their homes and seeing how they have to live every day and listening to their stories of how they ended up in the dump of Jardim Gramacho. I believe people can learn a lot about themselves if they watch this movie about judging people before you even hear their story just as Vik Muniz judged the people at the garbage dump at the beginning of the movie before meeting them saying that a lot of them are drug users and alcoholics. Our society today tends to blame the victim and label people. Many people say these people are working in these dumps because they chose this life, but after watching the movie we see that this is not always the case like Suelem who has been working at the dump since she was seven as she didn’t want to fall into prostitution or drug dealing so she decides to support her three kids with an honest living by working at the dump. Wasteland really shows the true power of art and how it can inspire certain people to move on to better things just like many of the Catadores lives were changed by an art project.

Born Into Brothels was a very interesting film which still shows the power of art just like wasteland but it has a little darker of a story and ending. Many of the kids in the end get a chance to go to school to actually get an education but unfortunately many of them end up getting pulled out by their own parents and doomed to live in a life full of drugs and prostitution. But some of the kids were so inspired by their art and the art of Zana Briski that some remained in school with hopes to go to university. One girl actually ran away from home to go to an all-girls school in Sanlaap. But I think Zana Briski did a good job by raising a lot of awareness about children who live in these brothels with terrible ways of living. She also showed how art can really change and inspire people maybe not to be an artist but inspire them in other ways maybe it is going to school or trying to make a better life for you. Zana Briski made me see that in the real world not everyone can be helped but if you could still help one or two it still makes a difference. Born into Brothels is a really good movie it is inspiring and makes you really feel for the children who have to live in these brothels. These 2 films are so powerful because it shows when people have no hope and seem to give up they have something that inspires them so much that it completely changes their outlook on life. We could all relate to these movies because I'm sure we have all been inspired by something that helped us get threw a struggle or tough time. Even If its music, film or a book it is a form of art that can motivate and push people to achieve a goal they want.

Overall we can say that society has still not come to terms with the idea that art is powerful. Just as much as money, we can change and save peoples life through the introduction of art. These films went on to prove that the absence of art in these individuals lives really limited their capabilities and wouldn't allow them to know what they can truly achieve.

http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/news/  -Link to a website where it shows the kids today

http://www.wastelandmovie.com/gallery.html  - link to wasteland site