Hashima by Taiji Matsue

Hashima Island, commonly called Gunkanjima, is a tiny abandoned island off Nagasaki with a dark history. A symbol of decay and failed industrialisation, in recent years it’s become a destination for urban explorers.

This is a previously unpublished collection of works taken in the ruins of Hashima Island in 1983 by Japanese photographer Taiji Matsue. Nine years after Hashima’s coal mines closed and the island became uninhabited, Matsue visited the island to document its commencing decay as civilisation slowly vanished and nature once again began to conquer.

Digitally remastered from the original negatives by the artist himself.