Creators (the arts and culture vertical of VICE at the time) reached out for an interview in February 2016. Lost Collective was three months old. I'd had three significant features run in the same week.
The part of that period that still stands out is the comments thread on each gallery. Former workers, former residents, former patients, people who used to be regulars at the pub, people who'd grown up next door. The photographs were the thing that opened the door, but the comments were the substance.
I also touched on what was coming up. A Japan trip was on the calendar, including a few attempts to get out to Hashima (Gunkanjima), the long-abandoned coal-mining island off Nagasaki. At its peak Hashima was reportedly the most densely populated place on earth. You can read more about it here.
"Mould creeps down from the ceiling of the decaying control room of the White Bay Power Station in New South Wales, yet a bright white light streams through the window. The scene is bleak and haunting for photographer Brett Patman, whose new project aims to capture historical abandoned buildings before they're gone. His Lost Collective project focuses on nature's reclamation of abandoned spaces like old hospitals, power stations, gasworks, and slaughterhouses."
Read the full Creators piece (now hosted on VICE) at vice.com.
