Two Artists with Strong Ethics

1.Vik Muniz

Vik Muniz is a Brazilian artist whose work depicts social and political issues. I will take one of his projects - Wasteland - as an example illustrating Muniz's aims as an artist.

Wasteland is a 2010 documentary filmed in the world's largest garbage landfill, located in Brazil. Muniz works with poor marginalised people who pick the refuse, a job that is crucial in remediating modern culture's overconsumption and careless disposal. Together with the garbage pickers, Muniz creates art out of recycled materials, which he photographs and then put in auction. 

Muniz returns 100% of the proceeds to the subjects so they can improve their labor union to educate and protect the workers of the landfill. The artworks stand as testimony that art can indeed change lives in small and great ways.

2. Liu Bolin

Liu Bolin is a Chinese artist famous for his series of images entitled Hiding in the City, in which he literally paints himself into urban scenes. Camouflage, in the animal world, is used as an adaptive tool to protect against predatory attacks. Bolin declares that his art is a protest against the actions of the Chinese government, who is known for censoring their artists. 

Bolin’s camouflage photographs denounce the censorship and oppression contemporary artists are often confronted with in China.