Juan Curto Ruins are so attractive to humans. We like to demore in decay. They are a glimpse of death, a memento mori.
A photobook about Masumi, a brothel built in 1929 in Osaka, Japan, and has been empty for the past 20 years, collecting the memories of brothels that remain in their abandoned state. Through what remains, we can learn much about the culture and customs of historic brothels. We don’t justify prostitution, and we agree with the criticisms of the brothel system, but we still believe that photographing what is disappearing and showing its value is one of our roles as visual artists. The book includes essays and interviews from scholars and journalists, and it written in both Japanese and English.
