Since the mid-1990s, Brazilian artist Vik Muñiz (b. 1961, São Paulo) has earned praise internationally for the photographic pieces he creates out of everyday materials including chocolate, peanut butter, sugar, and dirt. These images, inspired by current events, art history or famous figures, are familiar yet enigmatic. Initially taking the form of witty visual statements, his works question the way visual information is constructed, presented and then perceived by the viewer.

Since 1989, Muñiz has exhibited widely, with solo exhibitions in highly prestigious institutions in New York, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona, Houston, Santiago de Compostela, Rome, Madrid and Dublin. He took part in the 24th Bienal de São Paulo in 1998, and represented Brazil at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001. He now divides his time between Rio de Janeiro and New York.

Widely collected, Muñiz's work is in the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Art Institute of Chicago; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; the Daros Foundation, Zurich; and the Tate, London.