Hannah Lim (b. 1998, UK) is a London-based artist of Singaporean and British heritage working between sculpture, installation and drawing. She makes work in response to Orientalism, the colonial romanticisation of the East, with a particular focus on the eighteenth-century aesthetic trend of ‘Chinoiserie’. Through the production of anthropomorphic, intricate sculptures, that oscillate playfully between function and ornament, Lim’s practice engages with cultural exchanges between the Europe and South and South-East Asia. Lim seeks to reclaim and reimagine a dialogue between East and West, while examining the complex configurations of power and identity conferred historically by ‘Chinoiserie’.
She studied Sculpture at the University of Edinburgh before going on to complete her MFA at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford. She has exhibited widely across the UK, including solo shows at Wilder Gallery, London (2023); BeAdvisors, London (2023); Huxley Parlour, London (2022); Commonage Projects, London (2022), and Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh (2022). She has also exhibited in several group exhibitions, including Bloomberg New Contemporaries at South London Galleries, London (2022). She is the recipient of multiple awards, such as the Hospitalfield Residency (2021), the Home Residency by Ronan Mckenzie, and Cob Gallery (2021). Lim is currently Pangolin London’s 2022-2023 Artist in Residence. She was recently commissioned by Tate Collective to create a sculpture in the style of her ‘Snuff Bottle Series’ for Women’s History Month.