Recently in ROGATE we watched the documentary Wasteland. It was about the biggest landfill in the world located in Rio, Brazil. It is called Jardim Gramacho. The documentary focused on the people who work there to collect recycled material from all the garbage. These people are called pickers. The story told is about Vik Muniz, an artist who goes to the landfill and takes pictures of the pickers. He takes the pictures back to the studio and puts recycled materials in the lines and shadows instead of paint. The final result is an image of the people made out of what they work with.
The most memorable part of the movie for me was the part where one picker's picture is sold at an auction for 50,000 dollars. His reaction was complete amazement and gratefulness. He had never been so cared for or blessed in his life, and all of a sudden a stranger had come in and made 50,000 dollars for him. He cried tears of happiness and thanks.
From the movie Wasteland, I learned that you cannot judge people by what they do and where they come from. Just because you are not rich and don't work as a lawyer of a doctor, doesn't mean you are less than everyone else.
For the people who had their daily lives turned into something big and famous, it was exciting and terrifying at the same time. They was finally recognized and cared for, but at the same time they had their lives advertised for everyone to see. They were probably scared of what might come out of it in the end.
If I were the subject, I would be happy, excited, thankful, and scared at the same time. Part of me would be thinking how amazing and lucky I am, and part of me would be scared of the outcome and having my life shown to the world.
Finally, I cannot really picture a part of my life turned into art, and I don't think that any part of my life is big enough for that. To the pickers, the garbage was a part of them. They worked there. If the garbage was not there for them to make money from, they wouldn't be able to live.
