Toy Helicopter
Saarenald T.S. Yaawaisan, Monrovia, Liberia
ca 1990
"flip-flop" thong sandals, scraps of wood and rubber
10 3/4" H X 14" W x 17" D
From the Jane Martin Collection, on loan to the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe
photograph by John Bigelow Taylor
© Museum of International Folk Art
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Mr. Yaawaisan scours the beaches near his home for discarded, brightly colored thongs which he cuts and forms into elaborate toy locomotives of all types: planes, boats, cars, pick-up trucks, dump-trucks, eighteen wheelers and tractors, to name a few. The rotor-blade on this striking helicopter is designed to turn by a rubber-band mechanism which is activated by the rolling of the wheels.