How is Muniz giving back more than money?

Even though Muniz is giving the profits to the pickers, which is greatly needed, he is also giving them a voice. By giving the pickers this voice, they are able to allow the audience know of the harsh conditions of people that live in the favelas and work as pickers.

Is his work on some level exploitative?

It does not seem as his work is exploiting the pickers, even though it could have easily gone in that direction. He actually did lots of good for the people and bringing international attention to a  humane and environmental crisis.

How does Vik Muniz’s personal gains off of his work affect the aid he gave to the pickers?

By benefiting from the artwork not through money but through publicity, Muniz is not completing “charity” work. This questions the motivations of Muniz when deciding to start this project.

How did the release of this documentary effect environmental movements in Brazil?

By making the of the size of Jardim Gramacho landfill of more common knowledge. This documentary could have caused reilizations of how much waste is being produced, leading to decisions to limit an individual’s impact on the environment.

Why is the Association of Pickers of Jardim Gramacho so largely unknown in Brazil?

– At the beginning of the documentary, it explains why the pickers and the work they do are so unknown by the rest of Brazil through the words of the pickers themselves.  They explain how the people of Brazil don’t understand the importance of recycling, and how they believe it isn’t worth their time.  Additionally, the people of the association tend to be outcasts of society, to the rest of Brazil places the Pickers below them.  It is rather interesting that by being outcasts and working with the trash of Brazilians in nearby cities, no matter their social class, they have almost created their own social class below all others.  For this reason, the people of Brazil are unaware of the Pickers or don’t want to be.

Did the production of the Wasteland documentary positively affect the lives of the Pickers?

– It is hard to tell from an American perspective if the documentary actually changed the lives of the pickers like Muniz intended to do.  Personally, I had never heard of the Association of Pickers of Jardim Gramacho, and that is rather significant with all the environmental classes I have taken.  I would think such a great effort to recycle by hand instead of by a factory would be talked about.  Though the association’s presence doesn’t seem to have been increased here in America, it is very possible that it did to the people of Brazil.  If this were the case, I think it would at least benefit the lives of the pickers by a small margin.

(1) How do class distinctions between Vik Muniz and the pickers manifest in the film? To what extent does Vik attempt to relate to the pickers and/or create divisions between them?
Preliminary Response: While Muniz comes from a background of poverty, he had opportunities that many of the people in this film never did. The film tries to connect Muniz to the pickers through shared backgrounds and his desire to ‘give back.’ However Muniz distances himself from the pickers spatially, by standing and directing their labor from a platform, and through a rather condescending manner of speaking both about and to them.

(2) Is art an activist medium? That is, is art a useful tool to bring about social or political change? If so, to what degree and if not, why?
Preliminary Response: Art can assist in activism and awareness building, but does not function by itself. That is, art itself does not bring about social change, but it can contribute to an activist cause. The product’s suitability for use in activist pursuits depend on factors such as funding, sales, who gets credit for the art, labor, and power dynamics within the creative process, as they all influence the art’s social, political, and economic implications. Due to the power dynamics related to class and labor in the art this film highlights, I am hesitant to include Muniz’s work in any category more engaged than awareness building.

1. In what way did socioeconomic class completely shape the art that Vik Muniz planned?

Throughout the film, Muniz seemed to make many comments relating to both his own class standing, whether in his childhood or now, and about the class of the individuals he was working with. These comments really rubbed me the wrong way many times and I think is important for understanding the drive to complete this art project.

2. Other than monetary gains, what do audiences perceive are the benefits that were given to the workers through art?

In the film, Muniz really stressed that this art project would change the lives of all of the pickers, but I really am interested if others who saw the film really thought that the project made a difference as a whole.

This article Goes over the different indigenous groups in Brazil are going to march to the capital and hold protests and camp out in the Brasilia. They are camping out in Brasilia to try to push the government to uphold the constitutional and protect the land of the indigenous people of Brazil. The indigenous people have said this is a huge topic because the land they posse is what helps them leave their legacy for their children. The indigenous people started their protest on Monday of this week and there will be meeting between the government and the native people to decide if the decision by Michel Temer’s government and their policy over indigenous people and their lands will be upheld. FUNAI or the National Indigenous Foundation as it is also is known as, the organization put in place by the government to help regulate and over see that business’s and the government it self does not go into the native peoples land and take it from them. The FUNAI also makes sure that the rights are also recognized and withheld within Brazil. With President Temer cutting the funding of FUNAI he has cut off a major asset to the native people in making sure that there land with remain theirs. As of right now the government and private organizations have gone in and started to claim lands from the indigenous people of Brazil.

Brazil’s Indigenous March in Brasilia for Rights and Land

Institution Protecting Indigenous Rights in Brazil Under Attack

Q1: From a moral standpoint, do you think Vik’s project was acceptable?

Throughout the film, I struggled with the morality of the project that Vik was pursuing. While he did end up giving the money he raised to the people he photographed, I couldn’t get over the sense that they were being exploited to some degree, and that the project was more important for Vik than it was for the subjects, and to a degree, he was doing it to prove to himself he had moved past being that poor kid growing up in a Sao Paulo favela. To that end, it still felt exploitative despite the positive effects that it had on the subjects.

Q2: What do the subjects of Vik’s photographs reveal about how class interacts with race and gender in Brazil?

Looking at his subjects, they were largely non-white and female, with several of the women experiencing some sort of gender-violence. As such, it is clear that poverty in Brazil is disproportionately felt by non-white individuals and women.

One question I have about the film Wasteland is about Vik. While I thought the project he pursued doing was admirable, there was something about him which rubbed me the wrong way, that I couldn’t really pin down while watching the film. I don’t know if it was his ego per say, but perhaps something along the lines. I guess the question I’m asking is if other people who watched the movie also picked up on the vibe I’m attempting to convey. Perhaps more specifically it seemed like he didn’t want to entertain or hear potential criticism about the project.

Another question I have about the film is the scope of the project. While we saw Vik help a handful of the workers at the landfill, there were multitudes of those who were not focused on. How do you think the people who were left out of the project help? and do you think that the lasting effects of the project for the few benefitted the whole?