An art exhibition held in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. Lined up were works depicting smiling boys and works depicting comical characters. If you look closely at the character's face, you'll see that the eyes are made of broken radio cassette players and the nose is made of iron. What is on display here is an art work using "broken electrical appliances".

The person who created it was artist NAGASAKA MAGO (39). Mr. Nagasaka's art made from garbage is traded at high prices, and a work featuring old clothes that were sent to Ghana in large quantities and turned into garbage under the guise of "donations from developed countries" was sold for 110 million yen. It has a value of

It all started six years ago. Nagasaka came across a magazine article titled "Electronic garbage from developed countries is being dumped in Ghana's slums" and visited the site. There were people who burned electronic waste in the open and made a living by selling the leftover metal. I witnessed firsthand the reality that people are getting sick and even dying from the smoke.
　
Mr. Mago Nagasaka
“We will convey this current situation to developed countries in order to eradicate slums.”

After returning to Japan, Nagasaka began creating art works using trash that had been discarded locally. This year, Mr. Nagasaka's "garbage art" created 550 pieces and sold over 800 million yen. Why do you create art so energetically? Actually, Nagasaka had a big goal.

Mr. Mago Nagasaka
"The objective is to employ 10,000 people (in Ghana). If we employ 10,000 people, we can create employment for the entire slum, so that is the objective."

Mr. Nagasaka continues to try to change the slums with the sales of trash art. To achieve this, it is necessary to create businesses that will generate employment in Ghana. Most of the proceeds from his art sales are invested in starting up his business, and he is experimenting through trial and error. Meanwhile, a new business using Ghana's plastic waste is about to begin.

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