Photo Credit: 2026 © Chris P.Photo Credit: 2026 © Chris P.Photo Credit: 2026 © Chris P.Photo Credit: 2026 © Chris P.Photo Credit: 2026 © Chris P.ahqua (2026) at Guoco Midtown Public Art Wall. More info about series here
ahqua (2026)
ahqua (2026)
as part the Undescribed#11 programme
organised by DECK
Edition: 1 + 2AP
Installation:
(Top) Colour Inkjet Prints on Hahnemüehle Photo Rag Satin Paper, Walnut Frame
(Bottom) Handmade focusing cloth, wooden wall hook, Silver Gelatin Darkroom Handprints, Lightbox.
ahqua is an ongoing series that engages with people navigating queer experiences; non-normative experiences that depart from societally prescribed paths.
Building on Chao Ah Gua, this iteration sees Lim focuses on Singaporeans whose stories deviate from the “Singaporean Dream”. He conducts intimate, individualised photo walks with each sitter, revisiting spaces imbued with memory and personal meaning. Using the slowed process of analogue photography, Lim invites his sitters to reconnect with their embedded histories in these spaces, reflecting on their significance. ahqua explores how photography can be a medium that queer Singaporeans can use to gain agency over their lived experiences.
Together with his sitters, ahqua uncovers how Singaporeans who stray from the prescribed script of landing a good job, getting married young, BTO-ing, having children, and then retiring, live. The series poses the question: Are these experiences, though different, any less Singaporean?
Diptych pairings for ahqua (2026)
Chao Ah Gua (2024)
Chao Ah Gua | 臭阿倌 (2024)
Installation: Digital C-Type Lustre prints, hydrochromic ink, wooden dowels.
Photobook: 48-pages, accordian-style binding (Jabara-Shiki), thermochromic ink, postcards.
Emerging from a conversation between two friends with differing perspectives on queerness, Chao Ah Gua examines how each of my participants navigate their identity as queer Asian men. Shot between Singapore and London, the project addresses the lack of nuanced queer representation, particularly within East and Southeast Asian experiences.
Thermochromic ink obscures the portraits, giving sitters control over their visibility. At the same time, the images can be revealed by the warmth of the viewer’s hands, symbolising how a gentler, more understanding approach can encourage participants to reveal their true selves. By inviting my participants to articulate how they choose to live as gay men, the series lays the foundation for an archive of Asian gay experiences, highlighting their complexity, diverse pathways, and the space these queer identities can take up.
project gallery
Chao Ah Gua (2024). L: Manipulated Portraits, R: Postcards
Flipthrough of the book, Chao Ah Gua (2024).
installation setup
Photo Credit: 2024 © Angala Chen.
Chao Ah Gua (2024) in Maybe Someday, One Day.