Waste Land Page #7

trying to explain what you were doing...

but I never understood.

Until you saw it?

I only understood it when Fabio

brought me up here.

Then I got what you

crazy people were up to.

Then I really got it.

The crazy people are

the ones who buy it.

They're not crazy. It's beautiful.

I'd buy it.

I'll buy it someday.

I'll buy my picture back.

- Bye Betania.

- Bye.

Hello.

You look like you're getting married.

Who would marry me?

That's it.

Watch the glass.

Oh my God.

Look, it's me.

So good.

I did the iron, remember?

I did this.

I did this.

Look it's Zumbi.

It's so beautiful.

Suelen. It's so vibrant.

Look it's you.

Check out the profile.

It's beautiful.

Check out, Auntie.

I did this.

- You made the pot.

- I did this.

I was a picker at Jardim Gramacho.

I was picking garbage when they

asked me to work with them.

They liked my look, my style.

At that point,

I didn't even know what this was.

It's really worthwhile to work

on behalf of the pickers...

to become recognized as

an official sector...

of the recyclable

materials industry.

And it's also worthwhile

becoming a work of art.

We support ourselves

with this material.

And we managed to transform

that material into art...

and into the opportunity to be

in the Museum of Modern Art.

I've never been to a museum.

I never dreamed there would

be a picture of me in a museum.

Sometimes we see

ourselves as so small...

but people out there see

us as so big, so beautiful.

There she is. You look so fancy.

Are you happy?

Very happy.

Don't cry, Sister.

Now's the time to be happy.

I'd rather want everything

and have nothing...

than have everything

and want nothing.

Because at least when you want

something your life has a meaning,

it's worthwhile.

From the moment you think

you have everything

you have to search

for meaning in other things.

I spent half my life wanting

everything and having nothing.

And now I have everything and

I don't want anything.

These days I'm starting to see

things in a simpler way.

I don't have as much material

ambition as I used to.

When I was poor I only

wanted material things.

I just wanted to have things.

I had to buy a lot of crap

to get rid of that complex.

I knew that I could do the work.

Bt I did not count

as being as involved...

with the people that I was

working with as I did.

It just was impossible not to.

I thought I could just go there...

and paint Jardim Gramacho...

like Cezanne went to paint...

Monte Saint-Victoire.

You know be cool about it.

And try to just do my work...

and look at it as a representation.

It's not.

It's a lot more than that.

Because it has it's human side...

that a picture

can not really translate.

It could be me.

I mean from the stories...

these people tell...

a lot of them they were

low middle class people...

that for some unfortunate event...

they just ended up having to go

there and live in the garbage.

I was born in a low...

middle class house hold in Brazil.

If something had happened

to my parents...

I could be led to a life like that.

If you can put yourself

in their own shoes...

if your living life...

and figuring out what to do

to just continue living...

it's very hard.

But on the other hand...

when you see

the appetite for life...

these people have...

and the way

they carry themselves...

it inspires you.

I start thinking about...

how to help people

and all of a sudden...

I feel very arrogant.

Who am I to help anybody?

Because in the end...

I feel like I am being helped

more than they are.

Even if everything went wrong...

you could still be like them.

And they're beautiful.

They're great people.

They just weren't very lucky...

but we're going to change that.

I can't believe it.

What's this, man?

Hang this on these humble walls,

this work of art?

You can't even

hang a picture right.

Check it out.

It's your dad.

That's it.

That's beautiful.

Right next to my mother-in-law.

Look who's it is.

Is it you?

I have to get a nail.

I'm shaking.

It's so beautiful. It's me, it's me.

I love it.

You have no idea

what this means to me.

When I went to work there,

I was too ashamed to tell anybody.

I tried to hide it from my family

the best I could.

After I worked with Vik Muniz...

I went to everybody and

told them I worked at the landfill.

It was one of life's consequences.

And I was no longer ashamed.

This image has traveled all over.

To China, Japan.

I didn't go, but it did.

I'm famous out there.

When I saw it being made,

it was very big.

Now it got smaller.

In the studio it looked huge.

See if it's good.

Here? Here?

Don't scratch my picture.

The back doesn't matter.

You did a good job Vik.

Now you're famous in Santa Cruz.

They're talking about you here.

- Did you do that?

- Yes, with everyone's help.

Remember that big pot I had?

That's the one they used.

You know how I became

famous all over the world?

Inside the garbage.

I started there almost

thirty years ago.

I like it there.

My life began there, thank God.

I'm famous worldwide

because of that place.

That's where

everything started for me.

He is President of the Association of

Garbage Pickers of Jardim Gramacho.

And his portrait was a big success

at an auction in London.

Tio Santos.

At what age did you start working?

Since I was 11.

- Since you were 11. At the landfill?

- Yes, at the landfill.

- Can I just correct you on one point?

- Of course.

We are not pickers of garbage, we

are pickers of recyclable materials.

Garbage can't be reused,

whereas recyclable materials can.

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