A man from Ivory Coast has found a creative way to repurpose footwear that washes up on the beach -- he turns it into artwork. Aristide Kouame is a 26-year-old artist. But he says no one would know this when they see him going around beach areas picking up flip-flops and other kinds of footwear. They probably think he is gathering the old objects to sell on the street. But Kouame has recognized the real value of such waste. He has created works of art from the material that can sell for up to $1,000. He cuts the rubber and plastic bottoms from the footwear into pieces and uses them to create large collages. This is the rubbish people have thrown into the sea and the sea brings it back to us because it doesn't want it, Kouame told Reuters news agency. He was collecting material from a beach in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's economic capital. I make art from used shoes… It's a way to give life to the objects that litter the beaches, the artist explained. Sitting on the floor of a narrow street, Kouame creates shapes, letters and faces with the rubber pieces he picked up on the beach. He even makes his own paint by crushing the material into pieces to create a colored pigment. His method is not costly and does not harm the environment. Plastic and other waste -- including large amounts of lost flip-flops -- litter most city beaches in West Africa. The waste is thrown away in cities and carried out to sea. But a lot of it ends up on the beach later.
