My mom and I went to see a documentary last night at the Wexner Center for The Arts, on OSU campus; "Wasteland". It's nominated for an Academy Award. It's about a Brazilan artist, Victor Muniz. He made it as an artist and wanted to give something back to the world. He went back to Brazil to this giant landfill the Jardim Gramacho, where 3,000 people work daily, picking recycleable materials out of the trash. Trucks come and dump giant piles and the people are waiting there, before the truck even leaves they are crawling over the trash looking for items that can be re-used. Some people even live there in a shantytown created from the trash. They even pick their food from the landfill. Victor chose a few of the pickers and took their pictures. He blew them up into giant sizes that covered the floor of a warehouse. Then he stood above on a cat walk and directed the pickers in where to place items of trash on the potraits to enhance them. He took photos of these giant creations and sold the prints. $250,000 was raised, which he gave to the pickers' association. One potrait was sold at auction for $50,000. They documented the lives of some of the pickers. It was so moving. When the pickers saw their potraits, they cried. One of the pickers said "When I look at myself I seem so small, but others look at me and see me as so big and so beautiful."
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