The uninhabited Japanese Island of Gunkanjima (also known as Battleship Island) and since 2015 registered as an UNESCO world heritage site, is the subject for MAKIKO's photo series entitled "BATTLESHIP ISLAND".

This series captures childhood memories of this island, which has been abandoned and untouched for over 40 years. The island appeared as a haunting backdrop in the 007 movie 'Skyfall', representing the evil home of villain, Raoul Silva.

In Summer 2015 MAKIKO was granted rare permission by Nagasaki City to visit the restricted zone, in order to show how it is now and to remember how it was 40+ years ago, through the memories of a former resident who was from a mining family and spent a happy childhood on the island, leaving at the age of 13.

Shooting from his perspective as a child, MAKIKO has produced a beautiful and powerful photo essay, which recalls priceless memories of a time spent in what was once a childhood paradise.

The island of Gunkamina used to be an industrial metropolis. It was known for its coal mine and was bought by Mitsubishi in 1890 who began extracting coal from undersea mines. In 1916, the company built Japan's first large 7 storey concrete building, choosing concrete specifically to protect against typhoon destruction. In 1960, population on the island reached its peak of 5,267 inhabitants, making it one of the most densely crowded places on earth, but when petroleum replaced coal in Japan in the 1960s, the coal mines started shutting down and Mitsubishi closed its mine in 1974. The residents were asked to leave within three months and as leaving ships could not accommodate all their possessions, many of them left their belongings inside of their homes. As a result, the island is caught in a time capsule.

The phobook was shortlisted for the best published photobook at Singapore International Photography Festival in 2020 and exhibited at Paris Photo, Photo London, The Book Awards at Les Rencontres de la Photographie (France), Busan International Photo Festival, THE REFERENCE (Seoul), etc.

"Quite a few of the photographers who have shot Battleship Island have approached me so far. However, I think that many of the photos MAKIKO has captured best describe the lapse of time. In fact, she must have detached her emotion from the photographic objects first, then managed to position herself to the objects as close as possible in order to capture the real - as such her camerawork enables her to express her profound feeling further. In addition to this, by including many archive photos describing what kind of daily life the residents used to have, (the book) is able to highlight the quality of time human beings possess. It reflects the essence of photography as media." - Daido Moriyama