{"id":482,"date":"2022-08-04T11:46:38","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T02:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/workmill.jp\/en\/?post_type=webzine&p=482"},"modified":"2023-09-05T18:04:03","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T09:04:03","slug":"art-sustainable-mago-nagasaka-20220804","status":"publish","type":"webzine","link":"https:\/\/workmill.jp\/en\/webzine\/art-sustainable-mago-nagasaka-20220804\/","title":{"rendered":"How Can Art Create a Sustainable Society? – Mago Nagasaka, Artist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How much waste do you produce each day? Our waste is sorted into different categories so that it can be appropriately processed by specialized recycling companies. But what if trash that should have been recycled is not for some reason, and ends up being disposed in some faraway country?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the studio of Mago Nagasaka, artist and president of MAGO CREATION, electronic waste arrives regularly from Ghana\u2019s slums. Among this mix of garbage are gaming consoles, cell phones… gadgets familiar to all of us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRecycling something takes a huge amount of money and work. Throwing something away costs you as much as it was worth. To cut costs, you can send two or three containers to Ghana and let them deal with it, and sadly, that is exactly what some companies choose to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Nagasaka experienced this absurd reality in Ghana first-hand. Since then, he transforms electronic trash into art, not only to raise awareness of the poverty and environmental issues but also to build a recycling plant right there in Agbobloshie, Ghana with the profits from his art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe in the power of art\u201d\u2014 this is Mr. Nagasaka\u2019s conviction. But what made him go to Ghana and why did he start making art from electronic waste? In the first part of this story, we visited his studio in Nihonbashi to hear his answers to these questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghanaian People Living in the \u201cGraveyard of E-waste\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

WORK MILL: Mr. Nagasaka, you began your career as a self-taught artist?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nagasaka: That\u2019s right. I started out as a street artist, drawing pictures of beautiful women or doing live ink wash painting events. I also held solo exhibitions abroad and worked on campaigns for a business in Shinjuku. All of that was satisfying work but at the same time, there was also a certain emptiness to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mago<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u30fc<\/span>Mago Nagasaka<\/strong>
Artist and president of MAGO CREATION corporation. Born 1984 in Fukui prefecture. Moved to Tokyo and enrolled at Bunka Fashion College. Worked as host in Shinjuku after graduating. Became number one host and started his own apparel brand, but closed shop again within the year. Started as street artist in 2009. Visited the slums of Agbobloshie in Ghana in June 2017 and was shocked to see how serious the environmental, health and poverty issues were there. Began producing and selling artworks made from recycled electronic waste. Founded MAGO ART AND STUDY in 2018 and the E-Waste Museum in 2019. The documentary film \u201cStill A Black Star\u201d on Mr. Nagasaka\u2019s work won the American Impact DOCS Award 2020 in four categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, the series of terrorist attacks in Paris happened. I was in Peking at the time doing a solo exhibition, but I couldn\u2019t stand staying there and the moment the exhibition was over, I flew to Paris. More than 100 people had been killed in the attacks and Paris was cloaked in the fear of death. I stayed there for about a month and kept thinking about if there was anything I could do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until then, I had occasionally made art expressing anti-war sentiments with slogans like \u201cNo war\u201d or the such, but was there really any point in making art like that…? One night found myself gazing up at the full moon floating in the night sky and in that moment felt my heart grow quiet, and I started making full moon-themed art after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This experience crystallized into the belief that maybe the power of art could bring peace to the world. After returning to Japan, one day I read an article in Forbes<\/em> on the smokey mountain in the Philippines. I was deeply shaken that poverty on such a scale was actually a reality and that most people were completely unaware of the fact. This led me to start focusing my attention on social problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WORK MILL\uff1aWhat was the reason for you going to Agbogbloshie in Ghana?<\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nagasaka: While I did some research on social issues, I read that electronic waste that was not needed anymore was brought to Agbogbloshie via mysterious routes and there it had piled up into a \u201cgraveyard of e-waste.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, electronics had been a big part of my life. In my 20s, when I had almost no money, I ran something like a resale business where I bought the newest smart phone models in bulk in Taiwan or the US and then resold them in Japan. Selling five or six devices made me a profit of about 100,000 yen and with that capital I then went back abroad again….<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I liked gadgets and when I found out that the objects that had helped me support myself had a fate like this waiting for them, I couldn\u2019t just see this as someone else\u2019s problem. So, in 2017, I headed to Ghana for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had read lots of articles on this e-waste graveyard during my research but I hadn\u2019t quiet been able to picture it or get a grasp of its scale. But the moment I saw it with my own eyes, the piles of trash were reaching almost all the way to the horizon. And all around there are people living in this ocean of trash. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They burn the cords of electronic products and extract the copper and metals. One kilogram of these metals sells for 200 to 250 yen, which is enough for the people there to make a living. This is a really small amount of money compared with the international market price. With this they then they buy new electric cords for about 100 yen a kilogram and extract the next batch of metals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The profit ratio is low and the poisonous gases from burning the cords cause serious health damage. Many die in their 30s. That is daily life there. And what brought this reality about is the economic disparity caused by capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WORK MILL: So this is where you got the idea of making art from electronic waste?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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