Sebastian Maselli

Natalie spoke about her experiences as a photographer and an artist.  She also shared some memorable stories from her past that came to life as she showed the audience the pictures she took during those times.  Her photographs of bears, salmon, eagles, and people in all types of extreme conditions were amazing.  I felt that she made a good point about cameras being “passports to experience” because she traveled to all types of remote locations and met a great deal of people.

She mentioned that she likes to show personality in her pictures and they absolutely capture a breadth of emotions: from complete misery to overwhelming joy.  The Exxon-Valdez oil spill was definitely a sad event and her photographs were able to capture the horror and despair of both the animals and the people cleaning up the spill.  She also spoke about her salmon project, how she persevered, “believed in herself” and “believed in her projects.”  This gives an artist like me hope, because I certainly believe in myself and my projects.

I think I should start with a brief explanation of what the TED Prize is; TED stands for: Technology, Entertainment, and Design.

“The TED Prize is awarded annually to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, “One Wish to Change the World.” Designed to leverage the TED community’s exceptional array of talent and resources, the Prize leads to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact.” (www.tedprize.org)

The winner of the TED prize this year was “JR”, a French graffiti artist whose real name seems to be a mystery. JR’s recent work consists of taking close-up pictures of people’s faces, creating larger than life art galleries with paper prints, and then gluing them in strategic parts of a town or city. My favorite piece was the one done in Africa with the pictures of people’s eyes on three moving train cars as they completed the faces glued to a mountainside village; it was amazing. His other projects span around the world: Paris, Rio, Israel, and Palestine to name a few. These projects are astounding and seem to have a positive impact on the communities.

The fact that JR started out as a graffiti artist just goes to show that he is not afraid to take risks. Gluing his artwork on government buildings, gang-controlled Brazilian favelas, and different places in the Middle East certainly takes some guts. JR was asked: “Could art change the world?” He replied: “Art cannot change the world, but it can change the perception of the world.” I agree; once people step back and look at something as art, it allows them to keep an open mind and consider things from various angles.

Last Monday I watched the film Waste Land, directed by Lucy Walker and I must say that I was truly humbled and amazed by it. This documentary followed the inspiring work of artist Vik Muniz during a three-year project in the world’s busiest landfill, Jardim Gramacho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jardim Gramacho literally translates to “Gramacho Gardens”, which is certainly ironic because the landfill resembles anything, but a garden. In spite of this, after watching this movie I could understand how the humble, yet proud “catadores” or “pickers” could see a symbolic garden at Jardim Gramacho.

One of the aspects of the film that I really enjoyed was the personal growth and transformation of the pickers as well as Vik Muniz and his crew. The film demonstrated how great people can be if given a chance, no matter where they come from or what they do. At the beginning of the film Vik mentions that Jardim Gramacho is the place “where everything that’s not good goes; including the people.” Even Vik had a preconceived notion of what these people were going to be like before meeting them. The people at Gramacho proved their resiliency and showed that they could still smile even with all of the nauseating garbage around them; I felt like there was a real feeling of community among the “catadores.”

Additionally, as a father, I felt a real sadness when the pickers would talk about their children because it made me think of my three-year-old son. I could not even imagine the horror, misery, and grief that Isis must have felt (and probably still feels) when her own son died at Gramacho. Nonetheless, even with all of its low points, this film was definitely inspiring and had enough highs to make me smile at the end. It goes without saying that Vik and the film crew had a huge impact on the “catadores” as well as the other way around; I would say they influenced each other during the making of this film. This was definitely an inspiring film that embodies the indomitable human spirit.