Boxed In: Life Inside The “Coffin Cubicles” Of Hong Kong

Photographer Benny Lam has documented the suffocating living conditions in Hong Kong’s subdivided flats, recording the lives of these hidden communities.

These small, wooden boxes of 15 sq ft, are known as ‘coffin cubicles’. Cage homes are minuscule rooms lived in by the poorest people in the city. Over the last 10 years, the number of cage homes made of wire mesh has decreased, but they’ve been replaced by beds sealed with wooden planks. The tenants are different ages and sexes – all unable to afford a small cubicle, which would allow more room to stand up

“I’m still alive and yet I am already surrounded by four coffin planks!” … Hong Kong’s cage home tenants.

The photographs highlight the reality of Hong Kong’s housing crisis, where tens of thousands of people live in these cramped conditions because they can’t afford anything else. All photographs: Benny Lam.

h/t: theguardian