Kathryn V. White, Award-Winning Author & Artist
Adventures In Expansion

Musings

Just some thoughts, reflections, inspirations, and things I come across I think are fun, amusing, inspiring, or just plain great!

So welcome to my eclectic musings...

SEE MY ART
  • Home
  • Kathryn's ART
  • Books--Rumble Tumble Joy
  • Story Cafe
  • Kathryn's Stories
  • Quick Tales (For Kids of All Ages)
  • Blog
  • About Kathryn
  • Sign Up!
  • Contact
  • Media/Press
  • Multimedia
  • Privacy Policy

From Garbage to Art

5/17/2014

 
Imagine you are in a museum and you spy a painting by Monet on a far wall.  You walk over to it and stand back taking in the entire scene.  

You see the painting in its wholeness; the brush strokes, texture, and splotchy colors of the paint are non-existent.  

Then you move nearer and peer at specific areas of the canvas.  

Rough and smooth textures, globs and thin varnishes of paint, as well as individual brush strokes are clearly visible. 

The painting is no longer a scene of wholeness—you see it in fragments.  You move back and forth between close up viewing and standing farther away.  Each position is important in understanding what it took to create the art and take in the art.

And so it is with the documentary, Waste Land.  Internationally renowned artist, Vik Muniz travels from his home base in Brooklyn, NY to his native Brazil and to the world’s largest garbage dump—Jardim Gramacho.

His mission is to make art from the garbage and somehow use this same art to help the catadores—the people that people turn away from in disgust and ignorance.  These are the people who are the self-designated pickers of recyclable materials.  To earn a living and support their families, they scale the smelly mountains of tons of refuse dumped from trucks each day.    

Vik looks at the entire dump site from aerial photos and then he moves in closer by walking throughout the dump and talking with the catadores.  Out of the many, he ends up working with seven of them in a collaboration of art-making.  He decides to create photographic portraits of the catadores in positions reflecting iconic images of art. 

These images become the basis of huge renditions of the photographs through creating them with the recyclables gathered and placed by the catadores.  And then he photographs these renditions and blows them up into huge photographs that are then sold at an auction house in London.  Each of the participating catadores receives some of the proceeds and some of it goes to fund the programs the catadores' union is working to develop.

Vik works in layers and layers of art-making process just as the garbage dump contains layers and layers of human refuse and history.

The documentary is fascinating and heart-filling.  It sweeps away ignorance, prejudice, and generalizations.  You see the struggle, the bad luck, and the achievements that can be wrested from poverty.  You'll cry, cheer, and be inspired by the power of the human spirit to transcend insurmountable challenges.  You'll be amazed at the power of art to transform how people see themselves and then their lives. You’ll want others to watch this film.

Don’t wait.  Click on the DVD cover and learn more.  (Affiliate link)


Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Be Sure To
    *Look at my fine art prints.
    *Check out my stories.

    *Sign up for my newsletter.
    *Like my Facebook page. (Click on the "Like" button below).
    If you love art, books, animals, and writing, visit my FB page.  Lots of cool stuff!

    Author

    Kathryn V. White is an author and artist who dreams of rousingly playing a djembe in a drum circle.  

    Two of my books are finalists in the 2014 Wishing Shelf Book Awards!  Click on the below book covers to learn more.
    Picture
    Picture
    Rumble Tumble Joy book reviews: San Francisco Book Review (4 star) & Story Circle Book Reviews (4 star).
    Picture
    2020 Juried Exhibit at the Washington State History Museum 
    Kathryn's collage, "Resonating Truth" has been juried into a show at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, Washington. The exhibit runs from April 9 to August 20, 2020.

    2019 - 2020 Juried Traveling Art Exhibit in Virginia

    Kathryn's papercutting plus collage  "Summer Interlude" has been juried into a traveling show.  The exhibit runs September 9, 2019 to December 8, 2019 at Gallery 3700 in Arlington, Virginia and from December 17, 2019 to February 18, 2020 at Westover Library in Arlington, Virginia.
    2019 Juried Exhibit at the Washington State Convention Center
    Kathryn's large collage "When I'm Gone, Who Will Remember Me?" has been juried into a show at the Washington State Convention Center's Phyllis Lamphere Gallery.  The exhibit runs January 12, 2019 to March 31, 2019.
    Poetry On Buses 
    Kathryn's poem, The Sound Soothes, was selected for the ​2017 Poetry on Buses: Your Body of Water Program and is a part of the online collection! Click here to read it!

    2018 Juried Exhibit at the Rosehill Community Center

    ​*Three of Kathryn's collages have been juried into an exhibit at the Rosehill Community Center in Mukilteo, WA from April 3 through June 24, 2018. "Phoenix" won the Northwest Collage Society's prestigious Eleanor Wolters Smith Memorial Award.

    2017 SOLO SHOW at the University Business Center

    *20 of Kathryn's artworks were on exhibit in a solo show from October 16 through December 7, 2017 at the University Business Center's Gallery 4500 in Seattle's U-District.
    2017 Juried Exhibit at Seattle City Hall 
    ​Kathryn's collage, "Welcome to My Universe" was juried into the exhibit, "Hot Town: Summer in the City" at the Seattle City Hall in downtown Seattle that ran from July 7 through August 30, 2017.
     
    2017 Juried Exhibit at Seattle University  
    ​Kathryn had a large collage, "Broadway at Times Square" juried into the 2017 Search for Meaning Art Exhibition (part of the Search for Meaning Book Festival) from February  16 to 25, 2017 at Seattle University's Vachon Gallery. 
    2017 Juried Exhibit at Cascadia Art Museum  
    ​Kathryn had a collage, "Indra's Net" juried into the exhibit, "Collaged Impressions of the Northwest Social Realism and the American Scene 1930 to 1950" that ran January 19 to March 26, 2017 at the Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds, WA.
    2017 Exhibit at Dreamclinic 
    ​Kathryn had 10 artworks exhibited from January through April 12, 2017 at Dreamclinic in Seattle's Roosevelt neighborhood.
    BUY ART: 
    Kathryn's art is available as fine art prints. Click here to find out more.

    Kathryn’s quotes


    "You have everything when you embrace the full circle of life."— Kathryn V. White

    Goodreads Quotes

    Archives

    May 2021
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Add Your Voice
    Animals
    Art
    Art By Kathryn V. White
    Artists
    Authors
    Books
    Books By Kathryn V. White
    Documentaries
    Environment
    Feel Good
    Fiction
    Finding Joy
    Gratitude
    Movies & TV
    Nonfiction
    Quotes
    Resources
    Things To Do & See
    Writing

    Picture
    indiebound
    Some of the book and DVD covers included on this website are affiliate links with Amazon. This means that if you buy the book or DVD after clicking on its cover, I get a very small percentage of the sale price.
    Picture
    Image from Kat Eye Studio
    Picture
    Image from fourcornersdesign.blogspot.com
    Kathryn's "Aha" Moment
    ​
    Copyright 2013--2023
    All rights reserved.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.