Singapo-ren Love with G. (2025)
Installation, 1137mm (W) by 800mm (H)
Digital C Type Print, Lustre, framed.
Photobook, 200mm (W) by 250mm (H)
Singapo-ren Love (2025) explores Jay Lim's identity as a gay Singaporean man, tracing his experiences of love, intimacy, and belonging through a lens of reflection and resistance. The series sees Lim photograph and re-photograph the various intimate moments he shares between his family and ex-lovers to navigate tensions within these relationships. Though the settings in which the images were taken may depict scenes familiar to any Singaporean, such as cafe dates, travelling, and family gatherings, Lim specifically chose these environments as aesthetic choices that function as camouflage while making his queer lived experiences within Singaporean society present. This photographic archive of quiet queer life points to ways of articulating experiences that exist beyond what is conventionally thought possible in a controlled, censored space.
Project Gallery
Singapo-ren Love book flip-through
Behind the Scenes: Research and Testing
The installation was conceived to complement the publication's underlying theme of family. It aimed to recreate the dining room in Lim's family home, inviting audiences into an intimate and domestic Singaporean space for conversation. Lead image was printed in A0 as a Lustre Digital C-type print. Test strips below the print are of different papers (Lustre, Matte, Extra Matte, as well as the Hahnemüehle Photo Rag 308gsm paper) to see which paper suited the image and concept best.
In sequencing Singapo-ren Love, I aimed to reflect the complexity of my identity as a gay Singaporean man. I was intentional about avoiding a straightforward narrative, as my lived experience is far from linear. Initially, I explored symbolism to convey nuance, but I soon realised that relying too heavily on it could make the work feel inaccessible. The process became one of balancing clarity and ambiguity, crafting a visual language that invites interpretation.
Copyright © Lim Jun Hao, 2025