Books at Kuwashima Hospital, a bundle of Japanese paperbacks sits tightly bound with packing tape.
Books at Kuwashima Hospital, a bundle of Japanese paperbacks sits tightly bound with packing tape.

Books

Provenance

Camera
NIKON D810
Lens
24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Settings
70mm · f/3.5 · 1/40 · ISO 1600
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Books are strewn across the floor in Kuwashima Orthopaedic Clinic, their brittle pages yellowed and covers peeling. They lie amidst debris, silent relics of a forgotten Japanese medical facility.

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 10 to 20 business days (framed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.
See certificate sample →

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In situ

Books at Kuwashima Hospital, a bundle of Japanese paperbacks sits tightly bound with packing tape.Books at Kuwashima Hospital, a bundle of Japanese paperbacks sits tightly bound with packing tape.Books at Kuwashima Hospital, a bundle of Japanese paperbacks sits tightly bound with packing tape.Books at Kuwashima Hospital, a bundle of Japanese paperbacks sits tightly bound with packing tape.Books at Kuwashima Hospital, a bundle of Japanese paperbacks sits tightly bound with packing tape.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
Books
Series
Kuwashima Hospital
Catalogue
KHO-003
Process
Giclée
Captured
29 May 2016
Camera
NIKON D810
Lens
24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture
f/3.5
Shutter
1/40 s
ISO
1600
Focal length
70 mm
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size
290 × 200 mm
Location
Kaga, Ishikawa, Japan
Authenticity
C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by
Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards
03 THE STORY

About this print

Books lie strewn across the floor in one of the rooms at Kuwashima Orthopaedic Clinic. The pages are yellowed and brittle, the covers peeling from the bindings. The volumes have been spilled from a shelf at some point during the disused years and have remained where they fell. Debris and plaster fragments lie among them across the floor.

Kuwashima Orthopaedic Clinic sits in Yubari, southern Hokkaido. Brett's photography of the building forms part of the wider Lost Collective documentation of Yubari, alongside the Streetscapes of Yubari series and the Shimizusawa Thermal Power Plant series. The city's population fell from over 100,000 at the 1960s coal-boom peak to below 10,000 in the decades since the mines closed.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A bundle of Japanese paperbacks sits tightly bound with packing tape. The spines show blue and white covers printed with kanji, the numerals "202" repeated across several volumes. Pages have yellowed at the edges. Moisture staining darkens the upper corners. Soft light falls across the stack from the left, picking up the texture of warped paper and adhesive residue.

Brett Patman

Kuwashima Hospital

The series

Kuwashima Hospital

2016 · 26 photographs

Kuwashima Hospital sits in Yubari, on the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan. The town's population peaked above one hundred thousand in the 1960s and has since fallen below seven thousand. The hospital is abandoned.

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 KUWASHIMA HOSPITAL

25 other prints in this series

All prints
Operating Table at Kuwashima Hospital, a seven-lamp surgical light hangs over the operating table at the centre of the room.
Operating Table $100.00
Reflection at Kuwashima Hospital, a lone hospital trolley stands motionless, its rusted frame reflected in the still water.
Reflection $100.00
Xray Machine at Kuwashima Hospital, a blue lead apron lies across the X-ray examination table, still draped as though.
Xray Machine $100.00
Stamps at Kuwashima Hospital, a metal stamp box sits open on a concrete windowsill.
Stamps $100.00
08 BY POST · NO SPAM

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