The work of Mário Macilau, Life Goes On, shows one of the hardest realities of life in Mozambique: the people and the days of the people who live in the Hulene Dump site, Maputo.
The Maputo Municipal open pit waste dump site, over thirty years old, is located seven kilometers from downtown Maputo, the capital of Moçambique and its largest city. There is no treatment of garbage to speak of and the Hulene Dump is the only destination of all the garbage that the city produces. Waste burning has been going on continuously in the dump site for over 10 years, representing a serious public health hazard, in particular to those who live in the dump, off the dump.
In the dump, one can find a group of more than 200 people who make a living out of the dump, either by separating and selling recyclables goods, or by living out of whatever they find to be edible or useable. In homage to the a community who makes its living off the city's main garbage dump and in memory of the victims of the floods in 2000, Macilau has carried out this work, taking to the public a sensible insight into this harsh reality.
“Those who live from rubbish end up living in rubbish. They end up viewing life as an immense rubbish dump.” Mia Couto