Vik Muniz

Vik Muniz (born 1961) is a Brazilian artist and photographer.

His work has been met with both commercial success and critical acclaim, and has been exhibited worldwide.

Vik Muniz was born in 1961 in São Paulo, Brazil, as the only child of Maria Celeste, a telephone operator, and Vincente Muniz, a restaurant waiter.

In his memoir, Muniz recalled struggling with writing in school which is why he turned to visuals to communicate his thoughts.

At the age of 14, his math teacher recommended him to enter an art contest.

He won and was awarded a partial scholarship to an art studio.

At the age of 18, Muniz got his first job working in the advertising industry in Brazil, redesigning billboards for higher readability.

While on the way to his first black-tie gala, Muniz witnessed and attempted to break up a street fight, where he was accidentally shot in the leg by one of the brawlers.

In the 1980s, he photographed drawings and subtly altered the images, softening their appearance.

To unify the series, he printed the photographs using a halftone screen, similar to those employed in publishing.

This synthesis brought Muniz's memories of iconic images back to their original form—photographs printed in halftone.

Through this artistic process, viewers confront a fascinating dichotomy: they recognize the images while realizing they are more like the "pictures of thought" than precise replicas.

Muniz's work prompts reflection on the reliability of our memories regarding images and events, inviting us to question their veracity.

He was paid by the shooter to not press charges and used the money to travel to the USA, Chicago, in 1983.

In Chicago, Muniz worked at a local supermarket cleaning the parking lot while he attended night school to study English.

In the English class, he learned Polish, Italian, Spanish, and Korean without any improvements to his English vocabulary.

Later, Muniz attended culinary and carpentry classes where he learned most of his English.

The film was nominated to the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 83rd Academy Awards and won several prizes at the Toronto, Berlin and Sundance film festivals.

Muniz took his first trip to New York in 1984 and moved there just two months after that.

His friend lent him a studio where he started his career as a sculptor.

Muniz was 28 when he had his first solo exhibit in 1989.

By the mid-1990s, Muniz had begun to integrate unconventional everyday materials into his artistic process, as in his most well-known bodies of work Pictures of Chocolate series of 1997, rendered in chocolate sauce.

The artist borrowed from popular culture and Old Masters artists such as Georges Seurat and Vincent Van Gogh to make his works more familiar.

He called this approach the “worst possible illusion.” Action Photo, after Hans Namuth (1997) is from this series.

Beyond his artistic exploration, Muniz is committed to the belief that art can be a catalyst for positive change in the world and should not remain exclusive to elitist circles.

His work often serves as commentary on global social and environmental issues, frequently accompanied by documentary reports that shed light on social inequality, poverty, and the lack of support for vulnerable groups within society.

Muniz turned toward socially-conscious subject matter in the mid-’90s.

In 1997 a series of portraits Sugar Children (1996), depicting children living on sugar plantations on the island of Saint Kitts were included in the Museum of Modern Art’s legendary New Photography 13 exhibition alongside Rineke Dijikstra, An-My Le, and Kunié Sugiura.

In 1998, he participated in the 24th International Biennale in São Paulo, and in 2001, he represented Brazil at the 49th Biennale in Venice, Italy.

In 2006, Muniz created the series Pictures of Junk - monumental photographic images appropriating the renowned works by the old masters united by the common theme of ancient mythology, which are made from trash.

In 2008 he continued with the series Pictures of Garbage.

Muniz donated the profits from his Pictures of Garbage series, close to $50,000 of which came from the sale of Marat (Sebastiao) at an auction in the UK, to the workers collective Associação dos Catadores do Aterro Metropolitano de Jardim Gramacho (Association of Collectors of the Metropolitan Landfill of Jardim Gramacho).

In 2010, Muniz was featured in the documentary film Waste Land.

Directed by Lucy Walker, the film highlights Muniz's work in Jardim Gramacho garbage dump.

Throughout the film, Muniz works with the pickers to create a series of works using materials from the landfill, such as paper, plastic, and metal.

The resulting large-scale photographs serve as a powerful commentary on the environmental impact of waste and the social injustice faced by waste pickers.

This project not only showcases the incredible artistic talent of Vik Muniz, but also highlights the importance of using art as a tool for social and environmental activism.

Through his cooperation with the garbage pickers, Muniz raises awareness about the dignity and resilience of these marginalized individuals, as well as the pressing environmental issues that they confront on a daily basis.

It had a greater impact on the public, and as a result, by June 2012, the landfill was closed down.

In 2014 Muniz together with Juan Rendón directed a documentary This Is Not a Ball which narrates the story of how a small round object such as a soccer ball can transform the lives of individuals and communities around the world.