History and Imagination: Modern Photography from Singapore

History and Imagination: Modern Photography from Singapore presents the works of four Singapore photographers: Tan Lip Seng, Lee Lim, Lim Kwong Ling and Lee Sow Lim. These amateur photographers were active members of camera clubs in the 1950s and 1960s, a period of rapid political and urban change in newly independent Singapore. Navigating the desire to document the emerging nation against the conventions of pictorial photography, scholarly essays and full-colour plates trace how their images parallel a newfound search for independence from British rule and the anxieties of modernity.

Publisher: National Gallery Singapore
Author Biography: Charmaine Toh earned her PhD at the University of Melbourne, researching pictorial photography in Singapore from the 1950s to 1970s. She is also Curator at National Gallery Singapore where she worked on exhibitions such as Siapa Nama Kamu: Art in Singapore since the 19th Century (2015) and Earthwork 1979 (2016). Previously, Charmaine was the Programme Director at Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film. She co-curated the 2013 Singapore Biennale.
Language: English
Country of Origin: Singapore
Page count: 116
Binding: Paperback
Search words: Tan Lip Seng, Lim Kwong Ling, Lee Lim, Lee Sow Lim, modern photography, Singapore, Pictorialism