In 1938, the cover of LIFE magazine bore an image of a young Chinese solider looking off into the distance, his face set in a look of defiance.
The story was about the Sino Japanese War and photographer Robert Capa’s image, like so many of LIFE’s covers over the years, became an iconic symbol of the war.
Now the picture has been recreated by an artist called Joe Black, who specialises in making mosaics using tiny objects. Called Made In China, this amazing image is actually compromised of 5,500 plastic toy soldiers – made, as you may have guessed, in China.
By spray painting each solider an individual colour, Black has given the piece a photo-realistic sheen and created a pointillism effect that, when viewed from a distance, bears an uncanny likeness to the image it was based on.
Made In China can also be interpreted as making a number of different statements about war, child soliders, and the detachment of governments from their armed forces who can sometimes appear to be waging war like it’s a game.
Check out more images of Joe Black’s work below: