From A Safe Distance

“My practice develops through a process of exploration into my cultural identity. As a woman of mixed Singaporean and British heritage my work explores the relationship between these two cultures and how this is reflected in furniture design, objects and architecture. Through this my practice has come to focus largely on the 18th-century trend of the Chinoiserie where in turn I aim to reclaim and re-imagine this practice in a more conscientious and culturally appropriate way.

I produce furniture-like structures that are ornamental but also functional. My sculptures are usually flat-packable and when assembled are often anthropomorphic in stature and shape. These objects are culturally coded, they reference an aesthetic trend that saw the appropriation of Chinese design as a result of Britain's colonial conquests however they are also playful and peculiar, their creature-like bodies depict them as having a life of their own.

During lockdown I started creating a series of sculptures inspired by snuff bottles. Visiting   museums, I’ve often been struck by the intricate yet functional beauty of the snuff bottle. Growing up in the UK I’ve felt quite separated from the Chinese side of my heritage, these quintessentially Chinese objects have helped me piece together my sense of cultural identity. Traditionally snuff bottles were intended to be personal, uniquely decorated, the symbols on their exterior an emblem of good fortune for its owner. My own snuff bottles, created by hand in polymer clay, capture elements of my identity. Sometimes stamped with my namesake chop, decorated with clay copies of my grandmother’s jade pendants and topped with Singapore’s national flower - an orchid.

Since beginning this project I’ve been considering the ornamental nature of the objects I create and how these objects have become an extension of myself. Consequently this has lead me to look more into the way that Asiatic femininity has been reproduced through ‘inorganic’ and ‘insensate’ materials, notably through ceramics. I am currently exploring the relationship between ornamental objects and the racialised body as well as examining how the idea of Ornamentalism relates to Orientalism.” - Hannah Lim, 2021

Hannah Lim (b.1998, London) is an artist based in South West London, she graduated from the  University of Edinburgh with a first class degree in Sculpture in 2020 and is set to begin her MFA at The University of Oxford in October 2021. At the end of her degree she was awarded the RSA John Kinross Scholarship allowing her to travel on a research trip to Florence. She has recently shown work as part of Wretched Light Industry, a project supported by Creative Scotland and Serving The People NY, Pending at San Mei Gallery in Brixton and was part of the duo show, Porta Sancta , with artist Hugo Harris in association with Underground Flower and Harlesden High Street. She has been selected for the RSA New Contemporaries 2022 exhibition and has most recently been chosen for a residency and exhibition with HOME x Cob Gallery, a project supported by Glossier.

Accolades

Education: Foundation Diploma Art and Design, Central Saint Martins. BA Hons Sculpture, Edinburgh College of Art, The University of Edinburgh. MFA University of Oxford, Starting October 2021

Awards: Recipient of the HOME X Cob Gallery Studio fund and residency supported by Glossier, 2021. Shortlisted for Bloomberg New Contemporaries, 2022. RSA New Contemporaries, 2022. RSA John Kinross Scholarship, 2020. Selected for Georgia Stephenson’s Patio Project supported by the Freelands Foundation, 2020. Clason Harvie Bursary, 2020. Made it: Short Supply Manchester, 2020. Shortlisted for the Astaire Prize 2019, 2020

Selected Exhibitions 2020/2021: RSA New Contemporaries, RSA, 2022. HOME x Cob Gallery, Cob Gallery, 2021. ‘What does it mean to be an Asian Woman?’, Local Collective x Stigma, 2021. The graduates: Four Pillars, Tatha Gallery, Fife, 2021. Porta Sancta, Underground Flower x Harlesden High Street, 2021. Year of the Ox, Steamroom, Haggerston, 2021. Wretched Light Industry, Serving The People New York, 2021. Pending, San Mei Gallery, Brixton, 2021. Unmuted feature, Sky Arts, London, 2021. Curated for Christmas, All Mouth Gallery x Bowes Parris Gallery, 2020. After Hours, Bowes Parris Gallery x Harlesden High Street, 2020. Made It, Short Supply, Manchester, 2020. Museum of Half Truths, 1a Space Hong Kong, 2020. Future Lab, West Bund Art Centre, Shanghai, China, 2020 EXH 04,. Floorr Magazine, 2020. No Borders Initiative, Maggies x Arthou, 2020. PATIO-PROJECT, Georgia Stephenson, London, 2020. Freewall Space, London, 2020. A THESISSS SHOW, New York, 2020. RSA Annual Exhibition, 2020. Potion Room, Subsidiary Projects, Vauxhall, 2020. RCA x ECA Sculpture Exchange, RCA, 2019. Kubla Khan, Safehouse 1, Peckham, 2019. Butter on Bacon, Hospitalfield House, 2019.

www.hannah-lim.co.uk
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