Nagasaka
Mago
OFFICIAL SITE
MAGO is a one-of-a-kind artist who continues to create art using waste dumped by
developed countries and loves Ghana's slums.
By 2030, MAGO will create employment for 10,000 people.
We will hire them and transform the world's worst electronic graveyard into a sustainable town with zero pollution.
*Aiming to create employment for 10,000 people from virtually every household in Agbogbloshie, where 30,000 people are said to live.
Aiming to employ 10,000 people
by 2030
62
Current number of employees
9,957 people left to reach 10,000 (as of 2023.12.12)
0.43
Current achievement rate
NEWS
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長坂真護展が阪急うめだ本店で開催されます10/23(水)〜11/4(月)
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長坂真護展が名古屋高島屋で開催されます 9/18(水)〜10/1(火)
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The "Mago Nagasaka Art Exhibition" will be held at Barneys New York Roppongi from Saturday, June 15th to Sunday, June 30th, 2024.
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The "Nagasaka Mago Exhibition" will be held at Seibu Fukui store from Thursday, May 23rd to Tuesday, June 4th, 2024.
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"STILL A BLACK STAR Mago Nagasaka Exhibition" will be held at Meitetsu Department Store Main Branch from Thursday, April 18, 2024 to Sunday, April 28, 2024.
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It was introduced on MBS Mainichi Broadcasting's "TOKIO Terrace." Broadcast on July 6, 2024
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Appearing on "J-WAVE TOKYO MORNING RADIO" hosted by Tetsuya Bessho (broadcast from 8:35 on July 3, 2024)
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Featured on Yomiuri TV's "Wake Up" on April 13, 2024
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Appeared on NHK's "Soichiro Asano: Find the hidden value." Broadcast on August 8, 2023
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Published on the Fa-So-La AKIHABARA official website.
お知らせ
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We have a mission to achieve world peace and save the environment.
We have a mission to achieve world peace and save the environment.
Depicting world peace on the canvas
of the earth.
ABOUT MAGO
The world's largest electronic device graveyard
"Ghana's Agbogbloshie"
In June 2017, MAGO, who became a street painter after his company went bankrupt in 2009, visited Agbogbloshie, a slum in Ghana known as the world's electronic graveyard. There, MAGO met people who lived on a daily wage of just 500 yen a day, desperately burning electronic devices thrown away by developed countries.
What he witnessed were people who are said to have died in their 30s after inhaling large amounts of gas and contracting cancer.
"Is it so important that we accumulate wealth at their expense? I want to convey this truth to developed countries through the power of art."
True love found in the slums
of Ghana
After returning to Japan, he created artworks using unnecessary waste from the slums, and with the profit from the sales, he made his second visit in November 2017 and delivered 250 gas masks for the first time, to prolong their lives from cancer. Thereafter, MAGO vowed to them that he would "make this slum even better with art."
This oath brought him miracles. On March 20, 2018, MAGO's works were sold for 15 million yen each at the solo exhibition "Art is for saving people: A visit to the slums of Ghana" held in Ginza. “Everything is for them.” This true love has endowed MAGO with a unique and never-ending creativity.
Since then, MAGO has continued to transform the waste collected in this slum into his own works, and to return the earnings to the local people.
Providing education,
culture and economy to slums through art sales
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recycling factory
Agbogbloshie's e-waste is being collected and plastic chips, the raw material for MAGO blocks, are being produced at a recycling factory.
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agricultural business
We are growing 500 coffee seedlings, 550 moringa seedlings, 500 plantain seedlings, and 10 olive seedlings on a 3-acre farm near Accra.
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EV business
Research, development, and design of EV bikes, kickboards, etc. are carried out locally, and advanced technology is invested in the slums. In 2023, as the first step, we will start selling a new electric scooter "EQCO" designed by Ghanaian designer Godwin.
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art gallery
An art gallery has been opened next to the recycling factory. We cultivate and produce artists from slums, and exhibit and sell them at MAGO GALLERY, museums, and department stores around the world.
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beach cleaning
Due to excessive donations from developed countries, large amounts of clothing wastes are being dumped on beaches near Accra. A project is underway to clean up the beach and return the clothing waste to the soil.
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education
In 2018, MAGO established MAGO ART AND STUDY, the first school in a slum. At the school, which MAGO has guaranteed to be free for the next 50 years (until he dies), lessons in English, math, social studies, and art are held for preschool children on weekday evenings.
The person who buys the art,
the local people, and the earth will be happy.
MAGO operates under the banner of "sustainable capitalism," a form in which the three gears of "culture," "economy," and "social contribution" continue to rotate. The more you own MAGO's Ghanaian works, the less local trash is created, the more you will be able to contribute to the economy, and the more cultural you become. And at the same time, the message of this problem will spread all over the world. Furthermore, if MAGO's reputation as an artist increases through these activities, it is not impossible that the value of the artwork you purchase will increase by 100 times the original price. Paintings that MAGO once sold for $300 on the streets of New York are now fetching $30,000 among collectors.
Owning works of art in Ghana =
Culture aspect "Owning works of art"
Economy aspect "Investing to increase the value of works"
Social contribution aspect "Developing slums"
This is the spirit of sustainable capitalism. MAGO is actively incorporating economic activities that were previously considered taboo for artists. Happiness will come to those people who buy the art, the local people, and ultimately, the earth. This is true sustainability, where culture, economy, and environment all move.
You can receive the latest information on MAGO events,
limited sales, etc.