Vik Muniz wanted to use everyday materials like trash to change the lives of others, similar to how the trash pickers in his home country of Brazil used discarded items to survive. He was inspired by Karl Marx's view of history being shaped by existing circumstances and T.S. Eliot's poem about trying to understand one's place amongst the ruins of past failures. Muniz recreated classic artworks using materials found in a Brazilian dump to give dignity to the lives of those who salvaged trash.