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Waste Land
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7.8
/10
743 Ratings

Synopsis

Vik Muniz travels from Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho. There he photographs the “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. The collaboration reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they re-imagine their lives.

Our take

The story not of the world’s largest landfill—though Rio’s Jardim Gramacho is the setting—but rather that of those who make a living from picking its garbage. Through the work of artist Vik Muniz we find a vital portrait of the people on the margins whose lives are made from what we leave behind.