Today’s Saturday Salon was supposed to be about the Empty Bowls Project. This spring the Clay Club will be hosting the fourth annual Empty Bowls event. The bowls that were to be made today are to be sold at their Empty Bowl event as a donation to raise money for Open Arms MN. The Open Arms MN provides nutrition to those living with illnesses in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area that operates by a meal delivery program. Unfortunately, due to the amount of increase in attendance than expected, there was not enough room for everyone to do the activities. Instead I watched Wasteland Documentary. This was about an artist named Vik Muniz. He uses garbage as his main materials. He finds dirt, plastic, paper, pretty much anything that he deems useful. He had gone to the Caribbean and took photographs of the local children, whose parents were sugar plantation workers. He then used sugar to draw out the children’s faces. He believes he needs to step away from the realm of fine arts. His project that was filmed, involved flying to Rio de Janerio. There he went to the Jardim Gramacho, which is a landfill. Here he plans to change the lives of those around him. In the beginning, the workers at the landfill believed him to be their filming for Animal Planet. He met many people; Zumbi, Valter, Isis, Irma, and Suelem. Out of all those that were interviewed, Suelem stood out to me the most. She had worked as a picker since she was seven (currently eighteen). She had told Vik that she had been picking and she found a baby dead, lying in the garbage. She said “It was the most horrible thing to see, it made me think of my children.” She has two children. She does this job to support them. Sadly, towards the later part of the film, after hearing about all of the amazing things the landfill is doing for other, you find out that they were robbed. The robbers took about six thousand dollars in US currency. Vik, the artist, had been taking pictures of people throughout his journey, he then proceeds to make gigantic collages, using the recycling and garbage from the landfill. After making the first one, he tells those that he has photographed that these pictures of the collages will be sold at an auction, internationally. After hearing the sad stories of the people of Rio and seeing what type of living conditions they have, makes me think about how lucky I have it. I don’t have to work as a picker and come home after a long days of work with only about twenty dollars of pay a day, smelling disgusting. I am fortunate enough to receive a high school and college education. Each person that was interviewed during the documentary all had reasons for being pickers. Each had their own inspiring story. While sitting in my room, I look around and see all of the luxuries that I have, that others do not. I am typing on a computer, and some don’t have that luxury. And in some cases they may not even have a bed or room to sleep in. It makes me wonder what more can I do, to help put an end to the horrible living conditions and working conditions in life.