This bird is made of toys which were brought from children who joined the workshop called “Kaekko (=exchanging)”. Kaekko is an place for kids to exchange toys. Fuji started this event in 2000 and it has been held for more than 5000 times over the last 13 years. And there are about 50,000 toys collected through it.

In the late 1990s, Fuji started to accumulate waste materials since he could not afford the community fee to discard them. He sorted them by materials and started to use them in his art works as well. In 2000, he held a workshop for kids and kids asked him to open a toy shop with them. Then he got an idea to open a place for kids to exchange toys with points by bringing toys or doing some little job at the “Kaekko” shop. And it has been enjoyed by many kids ever since then.

He had a vision to change something not valued in the society, into something beautiful or powerful. These toys might have ended up their lives thrown in a garbage can. But he changed it into a bird with his imagination. He has created a work of airplane inspired by the Japanese warplane he saw in Papua New Guiana and gradually transferred the image into a bird.

Look at the birds flying in the magical island of toys at the exhibition below. It is impressing to know enormous number of toys could make this amazing scenery.

Exhibition view of “Where have all these toys come from?” by Hiroshi Fuji.