“Berg Werk” by Sincei Yamamoto is a striking photobook about the traces of the vanished coal industry in Akabira, Hokkaidō. Returning 25 years after his youth, Yamamoto documents abandoned mine shafts, industrial architecture, and landscapes caught between decay and memory. Across 40 black-and-white photographs, the work becomes an attempt to stop time and fix a “skin of light” onto places filled with history and silence, blending documentary vision with deeply personal reflection.
Sincei Yamamoto (b. 1950, Japan) is a Japanese photographer known for his documentary work on industry, architecture, and landscape. Since the 1980s, his photography has focused on abandoned structures and suburban peripheries, reflecting on history and transience. With “Berg Werk” (2016), he produced one of his most important series, documenting the decline of the coal mining industry in Hokkaidō.
