Q&A with Hannah Lim

Chinese-Singaporean British artist Hannah Lim's solo exhibition Bestiaries subverts colonial approaches to East Asian art

Hannah Lim's accolade list is ever growing and impressive. The Bloomberg New Contemporary and Pangolin London artist in residence is an Edinburgh and Oxford graduate, was commissioned by the TATE collective to create a sculpture in the style of her ‘Snuff Bottle Series’ for Women’s History Month and has upcoming shows in New York and Milan. At the root of her artistry is a self exploration of her mixed Chinese-Singaporean and British heritage. Kensal Rise's Wilder Gallery is showcasing her latest exhibition Bestiaries until the 14th of October. Across sculpture and wall based work Lim's works reappropriates Chinoiserie (an 18th century design trend moulding Chinese aesthetics with European tastes) for the modern day. Her work also explores the feminist theory of Ornamentalism, the portrayal of East/South East Asian femininity as inherently ornamental. The result of such profound and complex themes is remarkably fun and accessible artworks which can be enjoyed superficially, as much as they can be critically evaluated. We spoke to Hannah about the process behind this stellar exhibition.

Thanks for speaking to us Hannah, where did you grow up and what are your first memories of art?

I grew up in Isleworth and lived there all of my childhood until I went to university. I think I’d always liked the idea of being an artist, I spent a lot of my free time drawing and making little clay sculptures but I was never fully set on the idea until I started my art foundation at CSM.

How long has sculpture been your preferred medium and why does it best convey your artistic voice?

I ended up specialising in sculpture during my art foundation at CSM and proceeded to do a degree in sculpture at Edinburgh. Before my foundation, my work had mainly been two dimensional - drawing and painting - so this transition into ‘sculpting’ and working three dimensionally really opened up my practice. I felt a lot of freedom when it came to working with sculpture, my work felt more authentic and less restrictive. During my degree I worked primarily on these very colourful, large scale, almost furniture-like sculptures - they were something new and challenging to create but they fit well with my research at the time. My research is also often tied to sculpture, much of my work has been inspired by my interest Chinoiserie, an 18th century design trend which heavily influenced, furniture, objects, ornaments and architecture.

Do you feel East Asian culture is homogenised through a Western lens and if so is this something you're conscious of when creating work that actively blends cultures?

I think people now are more exposed to different aspects of East Asian and South East Asian culture than they ever have been before in the West so I'd hope that the view of East and South-East Asia as a monolith is less prominent. I’d like to think that we’ve gained better understanding of the importance of being accurate and sensitive when exploring, understanding and learning about other cultures. My work responds to an aesthetic trend, ‘Chinoiserie’, that very much reflects the past ‘exotic’ and ‘mystical’ perceptions of the ‘East’ during the 18th century in Europe. Chinoiserie was a design style where elements of Chinese visual culture were recreated in relation to European aesthetics and tastes. Whilst primarily inspired by Chinese culture and aesthetics, Chinoiserie also grouped together imagery, designs and objects from a multitude of East Asian and South East Asian cultures. I’ve always been intrigued by the exuberant, ornamental and fantastical nature of Chinoiserie but also highly aware of its colonial history and its similarities to cultural appropriation. I’ve wanted to reimagine Chinoiserie in a more appropriate way, using the practice as a means to explore and reflect upon my own mixed cultural identity. Cultural motifs and imagery that are represented in my work are often researched in detail and mostly refer back to aspects of my own identity.

Do you feel you experience Ornamentalism today, both in your personal life and as an artist?

Before reading and understanding Anne Anlin Cheng’s ‘Ornamentalism’, I hadn’t really explored that part of myself - my experiences specifically as a woman of mixed East Asian and British heritage. Cheng’s Ornamentalism explores the ‘representation and ontology of Asian femininity', utilising the term Ornamentalism in place of Orientalism, to reflect the way in which ‘Asian feminity’ has historically been defined by its association with ornamental aesthetics; ‘silk, ceramics and other sorts of animated object-ness’. I wanted to examine how Cheng’s understanding of East Asian/South Asian femininity and its association with ornamental materiality and language might affect how I understood my work as a reflection of myself. What do the ornamental aesthetics of my practice and the ornamental language I use to describe it, suggest about my sense of identity as a British Chinese woman? By researching and reworking the distinctly ornamental and decorative designs of Chinoiserie I’ve been able to reflect on my use of ornamentation and how I have viewed it conversely as means to reclaim and reconnect with my British-Chinese cultural identity. For me, the over - ‘ornamentalisation’ or flamboyance of my work has become a way of pushing against fixed notions of identity and race that are often a point of confusion and struggle for those who come from mixed cultural backgrounds.

Your work is rooted in complex sociopolitical relations as well as your own personal identity formulation but the outcomes are remarkably fun and light. Do you mind how deeply viewers connect with your work?

I've always liked the idea of my sculptures and paintings being quite playful, peculiar and intriguing. I think this playfulness invites people to really investigate the work and engage with it’s cultural context. Whilst there are many important themes that underpin my work, I’ve always thought it important for the work to propose, intrigue and inspire conversations around these themes in a vibrant, striking and yet subtle way. Whilst I think it’s important that people have an understanding of the background of my work, I don’t want my voice or a particular message to takeover everything I make, I also quite like the idea of people having to do a bit of searching and reading to piece together all the ideas that contextualise the work.

Has doing this work helped you solidify your own sense of self in terms of identity?

Yes, I think it’s really helped me navigate and understand my mixed cultural identity. It's been interesting to represent my identity in this very visual and physical way. I think I'm able to learn about myself through other people's experiences of my work. By sharing my practice it’s also enabled me to engage with other artists who share a similar background to myself.

See Bestiaries at: Wilder Gallery, 77 College Rd, London NW10 5ES, United Kingdom

Open until Saturday 14th of October

Article by Martyn Ewoma

See Hannah's portfolio here

Keep up with Hannah on Instagram

Q&A with Hannah Lim

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