"Cultural designs are shared as opposed to appropriated within my work.”
Hannah Lim is a British-Singaporean artist whose multidisciplinary practice explores themes of mixed heritage, cultural hybridity and the enduring legacies of colonialism. Rooted in her cross-cultural upbringing, Lim creates intricately crafted works that reflect on identity, ornamentation, and the visual languages of empire. Her sculptural pieces, often rendered as fantastical snuff bottles, altarpieces, or furniture-like forms, blend the folkloric and the supernatural, fusing decorative aesthetics with deeply personal narratives.
Inspired by Chinese literary works such as The Classic of Mountains and Seas, a mythological bestiary, and Pu Songling’s Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, which recounts encounters with ghosts, spirits, and enchanted objects, Lim animates her sculptures with anthropomorphic features, recalling motifs found in Chinese folk art, that lend her objects a whimsical, almost animate presence. Arms, legs, and expressive faces appear across her work, imbuing it with a folkloric sensibility and narrative richness.
A key focus of Lim’s practice is her engagement with Chinoiserie, the 18th-century European aesthetic rooted in Chinese visual culture. Often shaped by Western fantasy and sinology, it reflects colonial-era exoticism. Lim challenges its romanticisation and proposes new narratives grounded in hybridity, identity, and cultural inheritance.
Her sculptures often oscillate between function and fantasy, referencing the decorative arts while remaining grounded in autobiography. Recurring symbols, such as her grandmother’s jade necklace, act as anchors for familial memory and diasporic identity, situating her work within broader conversations about colonial history, cultural transmission, and the politics of ornamentation.
Lim received her BA in Sculpture from Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh, and her MFA from the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford. She was shortlisted for Bloomberg New Contemporaries in 2021 and RSA New Contemporaries in 2022. Her work has been exhibited at institutions including the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh Printmakers, and Saatchi Gallery. Notable commissions include projects for the Bulgari Hotel London, the London Borough of Hounslow, and Tate Collective.
Lim lives and works in London, UK