Five-storey company apartment block in Ikeshima-machi, balconies across the full facade behind a bank of scrub.
Five-storey company apartment block in Ikeshima-machi, balconies across the full facade behind a bank of scrub.

Five Storeys

Provenance

Camera
Nikon F100
Film
Fujifilm Velvia 50 · 35mm · ISO 50
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Five floors of balconies and railings across the full width of a concrete facade. Vines climbing the piers between the flats. A few windows standing open. Render streaked and stained. A bank of scrub and creeper in the foreground reaching the second floor.

Edition
Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

Limited edition
A fixed number of prints exist. Once sold, the edition closes permanently. Each print is individually numbered and signed.

$100.00 AUD
Size
Type
Colour
✓
Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 5 to 10 business days (unframed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.
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In situ

Reinforced-concrete apartment block on Ikeshima, lower storeys engulfed by green ivy and dried vines clinging to the central pillar, upper levels showing spalling and weathered balconies across five storeys.Reinforced-concrete apartment block on Ikeshima, lower storeys engulfed by green ivy and dried vines clinging to the central pillar, upper levels showing spalling and weathered balconies across five storeys.Reinforced-concrete apartment block on Ikeshima, lower storeys engulfed by green ivy and dried vines clinging to the central pillar, upper levels showing spalling and weathered balconies across five storeys.Reinforced-concrete apartment block on Ikeshima, lower storeys engulfed by green ivy and dried vines clinging to the central pillar, upper levels showing spalling and weathered balconies across five storeys.Reinforced-concrete apartment block on Ikeshima, lower storeys engulfed by green ivy and dried vines clinging to the central pillar, upper levels showing spalling and weathered balconies across five storeys.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
Five Storeys
Series
Ikeshima
Catalogue
IKE-009
Process
Giclée
Captured
17 January 2026
Camera
Nikon F100
Film
Fujifilm Velvia 50
Format
35mm
Film ISO
50
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Location
Ikeshima, Nagasaki, Japan
Recognised by
Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards
02 LOCATION

Ikeshima, Nagasaki, Japan

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

A five-storey block of company apartments in Ikeshima-machi, its balconies and railings running the full width of the facade behind a bank of scrub that has grown up to the second floor. Vines climb the concrete piers between the flats, a few windows stand open, and the render is streaked and stained where the sea air has worked on it. On an island with no room to spread, the coal company built its housing upward in reinforced concrete rather than in the low timber rows of mainland pit towns, and blocks like this one held a population that peaked at about 7,770 in 1970.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A five-storey block of company apartments in Ikeshima-machi, its balconies and railings running the full width of the facade behind a bank of scrub that has grown up to the second floor. Vines climb the concrete piers between the flats, a few windows stand open, and the render is streaked and stained where the sea air has worked on it.

Brett Patman

Ikeshima

The series

Ikeshima

1959 to 2001 · 54 photographs

Ikeshima Coal Mine operated beneath the seabed off Nagasaki from 1959 until 29 November 2001, making it the last new coal mine to open in Japan and the last large-scale underground colliery to close. At its 1970 peak the island held 7,770 residents on a 0.86 km² rock in the Gotō Sea, housed in company-built concrete towers above a mine that reached 650 m below sea level.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.

Anatomy · true ratio
07 MORE FROM IKESHIMA

53 other prints in this series

All prints
Dim office at Ikeshima Coal Mine, a white hard hat and a cup on two desks below a buckled venetian blind.
Hard Hat$100.00
View from an apartment window in Ikeshima-machi, utility pole and wires above silver grass with the Matsushima power station chimney across the sea.
Apartment Window$100.00
Window in the No. 2 Shaft office at Ikeshima Coal Mine, glass gone and a creeper hanging in over the sill above the sea.
Ocean Outlook$100.00
Pithead bath in the No. 2 Shaft office at Ikeshima Coal Mine, concrete troughs on a tiled floor with a vent fan on the far wall.
Pithead Bath$100.00
08 BY POST · NO SPAM

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