NAGASAKA MAGO – Still A “BLACK” STAR Supported by なんぼや

Introduction

Nagasaka Mago, an artist like no other who works by making art out of waste materials from an extremely poor Ghanaian neighborhood holds his first solo exhibition at a museum!

Nagasaka Mago became a street painter after his own company went bankrupt in 2009. In June 2017, he visited Agbogbloshie, an extremely poor district known as ‘the world’s largest graveyard of electronics.’ There, he meets young people living on a daily stipend of only about 500 yen a day, while desperately burning electronic equipment thrown out by developed countries, including Japan. He also witnessed many people having to breath in a lot of toxic fumes due to the high level of pollution in the area such as gas. Therefore, Nagasaka decided to use the power of art to convey to the developed world the truth of the situation.

After returning to Japan, he created works of art using scrap materials. He visited Ghana again in November 2017. In doing so, he delivered gas masks to protect them from the presiding threat. In addition, a total of more than 1,000 gas masks have been delivered so far, using a portion of the proceeds.

At a solo exhibition held in March 2018, one of the pieces was purchased at a high price. Since then, Nagasaka has been advocating ‘Sustainable Capitalism.’ He continues to transform waste materials accumulated in slums into his own works of art, with the proceeds of which he returns to the local people.

His creative activities aimed at a sustainable society are currently attracting attention from various sectors. To raise funds and build a recycling plant on site by 2030, creating new industries and jobs. His ultimate goal from all of this, is to reach a state where art can no longer be made from garbage.

This exhibition will be the first solo one of the artist at a museum. Along with his footsteps toward a sustainable world through art, the exhibition will feature a variety of works made from E-waste, as well as those that express his wish for world peace.

General Outline

■Period: Saturday, September 10 – Sunday, November 6 (2022)
■Venue: The Ueno Royal Museum
■Opening Hours: 10:00 - 17:00　
※Last entry 30 minutes before closing time