Hong Kong has now become the world’s most expensive housing market. Since there is little to no land remaining for future development, the nation’s population is left to fend for themselves.
Citizens are now forced to reside in “coffin cubicles”. These apartments measure in at 15 x 120 square feet and have been referred to as an affront to human dignity.
Benny Lam is a National Geographic photographer who decided to document these unique dwellings.
His photo series “Trapped” sheds light on these deplorable living conditions. “That day, I came home and cried,” says Benny.
“You may wonder why we should care, as these people are not a part of our lives,” Benny writes on his Facebook page.
“They are exactly the people who come into your life every single day: they are serving you as the waiters in the restaurants where you eat, they are the security guards in the shopping malls you wander around, or the cleaners and the delivery men on the streets you pass through. The only difference between us and them is [their homes]. This is a question of human dignity.”
