Waste Land (2010)

Andrew Cohen

5/15/15

Professor Matthews

Digital Photography

            When looking at a piece of art, there is more behind it than an image on a wall. An artist or a photographer creates a piece of art with an underlying meaning behind it. Art inspires people to think outside the box. Art and photography has become a very important tool in our society because it brings the possibilities of expressionism and the power of imagination. We learn a lot from photography and art because it documents a certain time period in history, it shows culture, what society was like at the time. Also, art can show us what a certain part of the world is like if you’ve never seen it before. In the documentary Waste Land, by Lucy Walker and Karen Harley we learn through the art of Vik Muniz that art is very transformative, uplifting and can bring out the beauty of the human spirit. This documentary takes place in Jardim Gramacho, which is the world’s largest landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

Anyone would never think twice about using trash to make artwork, but Muniz realized anything can be a work of art, with the help of others. The people who live on the landfill take advantage of the trash and turn it into treasures. They use materials to cook with, recycle and build their homes with, and turn the tons of trash into car parts and resalable items to generate income. Vik Believes that these people should be recognized as inspirations because they survive and learn to make the best out of what they have. He thought that he can take advantage of his knowledge and use the landfill to create art. For example, at one point in the documentary, Muniz is seen making a portrait with bottle caps and plastic recycled bottles. With about 7,000 tons of trash surrounding him he decided to choose six of the Catadores to pose as photographic subjects. All money from the sales of his work will go directly to benefit the workers.

Vik’s artwork shows that these “unknown” people really do have a name and a purpose to live. Many people who live in this community give up and go into prostitution and drugs because they are desperate for money. This group of people chose not to fall down that path, and even if they have trouble making money, do it the right way and live with integrity. His efforts help these people understand that they are human beings. They live, eat, sleep and laugh just like everyone else in this word. They deserve to be recognized by their courage and life choices in spite of the terrible poverty they are facing in such a depressing environment.

This documentary shows the strength of art and how creativity can bring a community together. It’s not truly about the type of artwork that he does, or about who he is, but this documentary focuses on the meaning behind art. Art can bring out many colors in a person. The message he is trying to portray is the importance of his documentary. It not really about Vik himself, but the look into the context of his work and the awareness that is available so the world can learn about who these people are by his representation of them. Muniz’s goal was “To be able to change the lives of a group of people with the same material that they deal with every day.” Muniz never imagined that his work could be so powerful and have such an impact on the lives of the people.

What is so amazing about this documentary is the fact the emotions that it creates for the viewers. It is difficult to see people live in such a terrible way, but Vik shows us that you can always make the best of what you have in life. He saw opportunity in something that was so depressing and upsetting. His artwork represented the people in this community. We learned that each person has a personality, a story behind their lives. His artwork shows how with the choice to think positively you can make something amazing if you put your mind to it. These people never believed that they would be recognized for anything, but Vik’s work showed that anyone has the ability to make an impact in this world if you put your mind to it and never give up on your dreams no matter how hard life might be.

Portraits

Panorama and Sequences

MOMA Assignment

Andrew Cohen

Digital Photography

Professor Matthews

4/6/15

            My visit to the Museum of Modern art was very inspiring and informative. The third floor of the MOMA held an exhibit from the Thomas Walther Collection dating between 1909 and 1949. A majority of the photographs were taken around the time of World War one and two, where photographers started to have a taste for creativity, abstraction and imagination. The collection holds over 300 photos from multiple photographers which all present a breathtaking expression of visual stories that captured some key moments in history.

            There were many eye catching photos in the gallery which really made me think about what the photographer was trying to express and what their motives were behind taking a specific photograph.  There were multiple genres in the exhibit and some were very eye catching. One of the first photographs that caught my attention was Bernice Abbott’s Fifth Avenue’s houses. My attention was drawn to the distinct contrast between dark verses light in the photo. The left side of the building was a dark color, while the right side was a lighter shade. I wondered why one part of the building was dark, and the other was not, what did it represent? The house was originally built as a single family home and was constructed out of marble that stood out against the red bricks of the neighbor’s house. Usually, while taking a photo, generally a camera tends to flatten out space. What is so incredible is that Abbott used a large format view camera with adjustments for distortion to add the flatness of an image to give this photograph the feeling it was cut out of paper, or graphically designed. The sunlight in the photo creates a large shadow against the apartment building, filling the foreground and reflecting off the marble building, which gave the image the intense shadows creating black and white contrasts between the two buildings.

            Another photograph that I really felt compelled to was Humanly Impossible by Herbert Bayer. This picture was a self-portrait of the photographer in the mirror, but was so amusing was the fact that he made an illusion in the photo to make it look like his arm was missing. It was very interesting because at that time, photo editing was very different than it is today. We can edit and change pictures with the touch of a button. In this photo, Bayer painted over photograph paper with gouache, which is like chalk to create a white pigment as if it were missing. After that, it was re-photographed and touched up. We can see something that is nearly impossible; to hold a slice of your own arm. What I like about this picture is the expression the artist has on his face. Emotion can play a huge part in a photograph. It sets the mood and feeling that a person gets while looking at an image.

            In this photograph, Bayer portrayed an idea that has a relationship with the culture at the time.  This photo was created with the sense of Nazi art and mass culture in the 1930’s. This was made in an effort to oppose the Fascist Nazi propaganda at the time. Artwork created by Herbert Bayer, such as Humanly Impossible made individuals thinks about who they are, and realize the meaning that their own bodies had in relevance to society at the time. Everyone was conforming to the Nazi ideas, but this showed people that they had their own views and their own minds. To many, this photo was a historic part of our culture.

            A third photograph that was very amusing was called Detail of Kalkerfeld settlement, Cologne 1938 by a German photographer named Werner Mantz. Mantz began his career as a portrait and advertising photographer and soon became famous for his modernistic photos of housing projects in Colonge during the 1920’s. Mantz focused on still-life photography. Still-life photography is photos or artwork that focuses on an inanimate subject matter. I really enjoyed two of his photographs. The first one shows a bunch of windows that go horizontally down the frame. It’s interesting how the photo shows a pattern in a sense of a zig-zag. As well, we can see the difference in the foreground and the background. The foreground focuses on shadows of balconies which we don’t see in the photograph. The second photo is very simple, is has a door and the shadow of a lamp post on the left side. Mantz took advantage of the use of shadows and lighting while he took his photographs. Timing is a very essential key to his photography.

These two photos were taken at the same time of day because the shadows are very strong and life like. They were taken as the sun was right above during the middle of the day. If they were taken at different times, the shadows in both photos would be at different angles. From these two photos, we get a perspective of what life used to be like at the time. We see what the housing looked like, and from that we wonder what the people who lived in these houses were like.

After viewing the artwork on the third floor of the MOMA, I took a walk over the Bjork exhibit. I was directed on a line, waited a few minutes and I went into a dark sound proof room. I got the chance to experience a song from Bjork’s album called “Black Lake.” This exhibit was very different because of the mood it set for the audience. In my opinion, this music video seems almost extraterrestrial, and out of this world. As well as the rest of the exhibit. At one point in the video, the girl had blue lava pouring out from her body. It seemed like blood, but had a different texture to it. We’re so used to seeing blood in films, that when we see something blue we wonder what it represents. The love and goodness represented the blue liquid coming out of her body. It was leaving her, and she was being drained out of love. This was very different from what I’m normally used to seeing. It opened my eyes to think differently about the world and how art is expressed.

Links:

http://www.moma.org/interactives/objectphoto/objects/83703.html

https://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1496

Light and Long Exposure

Crowded Frame