From the Unexpected to the Extraordinary

Vik Muniz is a Brazilian born artist and photographer residing in New York City. Muniz represents his artwork through photographing them. His pieces are commonly comprised of everyday objects like sugar, trash, sand, and diamonds, and are then photographed to preserve the image. His works are commonly done on large scales- some so large they require aerial shots in order to capture the entire subject. The subject of his works are created with objects that correlate with the deeper meaning. Often times this is done to create a whimsical and sometimes satirical tone.

Muniz is globally recognized for his photographs and always has something new and creative in the works. He is most commonly known for his collection of “Sugar Children” which are portraits made of raw sugar of children working on sugar plantations in third-world countries. His works are considered to be very powerful in their message and ironically appropriate. Another popular series by Muniz was his, “Beauty In a Wasteland,” which depicted the everyday lives of people in Rio De Janeiro living in poverty and and the recycled materials they find in the city dump that help them survive. The pictures are made of literal recycled materials found in the dump and arranged on the dirt ground of the lot and photographed from above.

He is often times regarded as a pro allusionist but he would disagree. He claims his goal is not to fool people but to make them question their personal perception of the image and explore how far their minds will go.

Muniz is still an active artist and photographer and mainly works in New York and his home of Rio De Janeiro. His works are exhibited in countless art galleries across the globe and continue to grab attention on the public’s eye. Currently, Muniz is working with a group of scientist at MIT to create images of castles on individual grains of sand.

Jared is a senior this year in my AP Studio Art class. Here are a few examples of his work: