Art in A Waste Land

Art in a Waste Land

Have you ever stopped and taken a moment to think about your impact on the environment at the global, local and personal level? Have you ever wondered what you can do to turn the tide and help decrease the negative effects of life as we know it on planet Earth? One of the things you can do is help raise awareness about the environmental issues that are close to your heart.

Brazilian artist Vic Muniz is well known for his offbeat portraits and for creating works of art meant to inspire social consciousness. In 2011, Muniz returned to his home country with the idea of photographing the workers in one of the world’s biggest trash dumps. He wanted to raise awareness about the amount of trash we produce and the desperate situation of the people who live and work in the dump. After he got there and began interacting with the people, he decided to make large scale portraits of them out of trash, then he sold the portraits and gave the money directly to the dump workers. To learn more about Vic Muniz and his art, check out the trailer to Waste Land, a documentary about his journey.

For this project you will be creating a portrait out of trash. Remember, a portrait is an image of a person, usually from the shoulders up. Fantastic portraits tell us more about the person than simply what they look like. As you work, you will pay close attention to the elements of art and the principles of design.

Steps:

Begin by watching the instructional video on Art in a Wasteland.
Gather up some trash. This doesn’t have to be “disgusting” trash. Try to collect things like chip bags, water bottles, etc.
Prepare a surface to work on, a large brown paper bag works great.
Next, begin creating the portrait. Sometimes it's a good idea to start with the eyes, it can help keep things in proportion.
Continue building up the portrait until it looks like a face. Again, keep the elements and principles in mind. For this project, you will want to focus on the element of form and the principle of proportion.
Once you have everything in place, you can choose to glue it all together, if the materials are gluable OR you can simply photograph your work and then recycle the pieces.
Share your work with someone after you are finished. Explain to them what you learned about Vic Muniz and the type of work he creates. Explain the use of the trash in art and the ability to have an impact on environmental change even on a small scale.
Finally, complete your Artist’s Statement. You can use this form or you can write about it on your own. Be sure to discuss the process of your artwork, how you created it, explain the artistic choices you made, share one thing you love about your piece and one thing you would change if you could.

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