Vik Muniz

Vik Muniz was born in Sao Paulo in 1961, worked in advertising, and moved to New York in 1983 after being shot in the leg while trying to break up a fight — the compensation paid his way. He began as a sculptor, and the work he is known for grew out of an interest in how images are read: familiar pictures remade from unlikely materials and then photographed. Sugar Children drew the children of plantation workers on St Kitts in sugar; Pictures of Chocolate redrew famous images in chocolate syrup; other series used thread, dust, diamonds, caviar, toys and torn magazines. For Pictures of Garbage he worked with the waste pickers of the Jardim Gramacho landfill outside Rio de Janeiro, a project followed in the documentary Waste Land.

The photograph is the work. The arrangement in sugar, chocolate or rubbish was temporary and usually no longer exists, so what comes to market is the print. Most are chromogenic or digital prints made in editions, and images are frequently editioned in two or more sizes, each with its own edition and artist's proofs, so size and edition number identify the work rather than the image. Formats vary with the series and the decade, from modest early prints to very large colour works. Large prints are often face-mounted or framed to specification, which makes surface scratches, mount failure and fading the practical concerns. Signature and edition are usually on a label or certificate, and the studio holds the records.