Starting his artistic career off as a sculptor, Vik Muniz then found his passion was leaning more towards photography. This Brazilian born artist works in both New York and Rio de Janiero. He presents much of his bold work now through photography, reproducing famous paintings or often his photos can illustrate art history or pop culture. He is known to use unusual materials in his work such as sugar, wire, garbage and coloured paper, even diamonds.
Attending MIT as a visiting artist, Vik Muniz has worked alongside researchers in biology, optics and engineering to generate a whole new level of image making. Using bacteria as ‘paint’ he has created new original imaginative work, which as well as being something experimental, was also a pursuit to bring awareness to microscopic organisms and their importance to life. His emphasis on “preparing kids to live in a very visually challenging environment and to be able to act as producers as well as consumers” is brought to life in a visual and interactive book for young readers. A documentary, ‘Wasteland’, follows Vik Muniz as he travels to his home country of Brazil to document and photograph his works created out of garbage, together with the interesting characters he follows. Wasteland won many awards worldwide.
