Waste Land

Almost every week I have a date with my ironing board, which I set up in front of our tv in the basement. I put in a dvd and start in on the shirts and handkerchiefs (that's right, I don't like the no-iron version - not absorbent). This week I finally got around to watching a much-recommended documentary, Waste Land - and I had to stop ironing and sit down to watch with full attention.

Waste Land is about a famous artist, Vik Muniz, who made his way from Brazil to New York and became wealthy from his success as a sculptor and visual artist. After a time he decided to return to Brazil and work on a project with the pickers of recyclable materials that he met working in a huge garbage dump outside of Rio de Janeiro. He took some wonderful photographic portraits of some of the most memorable pickers. The story of how he collaborated with them to create very large versions of the photographs constructed entirely of stuff collected from the dump was life-changing for everyone involved - reminded me of the story of Pinocchio. The project helped the pickers to see themselves as so much more than human "garbage." A film like that always makes me feel larger.