# 3 Writing Prompt.
The “aesthetics of hunger” refers to a philosophy created by filmmaker Glauber Rocha
that states hunger and poverty should be portrayed as they are: ugly and offensive.
Poverty must be depicted how the oppressed actually experience it, through jagged
images and storytelling that reveal themes of colonialism, violence, and disparity.
Whereas aestheticizing hunger/poverty beautifies or commodifies the suffering of
others. It makes poverty into something you can look artsy-fartsy at from behind a
museum wall. Distance can take away from the politics of why people are suffering from
poverty in the first place. The artist I believe does this the best is Vik Muniz. He worked
with recyclable material collectors of Jardim Gramacho landfill to make self-portraits out
of materials they found in the dump. Not only did he include junkyard workers in his art,
he used his art to benefit them financially and socially. In conclusion, yes aesthetics are
important but politics and helping people is more important. If a piece of art catches
your eye because of its aesthetic qualities, it’s not until you realize it’s benefiting social
reform that it truly becomes art.