Lim Chin Huat
Multidisciplinary Artist
Lim Chin Huat is a cofounder of ECNAD (1996–2013), a dance company that was, to me, defined by his visual aesthetics. The company was also a creative endeavour on many fronts, including its provision of a decent salary for its dancers. Watching an ECNAD performance was always an experience for the senses. Professionally, though, our paths only crossed a couple of times while ECNAD was active.
I have always admired Chin Huat’s calm demeanour, with a smile, while creating work. When he was the movement choreographer for the Drama Box play Senang (2014), I saw the depth of his knowledge of how the body works. I decided to work with him. And fortunately, he was curious to work with me, too; we had the greatest fun cocreating the installation Soil《泥土》(2017) for The Substation, at its box office. Today we continue our collaboration.
I got to know Ngiap Heng since the late ’90s, when he was with Esplanade’s The Arts Magazine (1997–2003). After that, he took on a few jobs shooting for my productions’ publicity. It is always exciting to work with him and see how he is exploring his thoughts through his camera-eye. We got to know each other much better while we working together, over eight months, for Soil. Lots of sharing and joy, with great experiments and explorations for thoughts and ideas. It was super fun and interactive.
This portrait was taken having known him for 20 years. It was one of my most comfortable and wonderful experiences of portrait photo-taking. The process left such a tastefully done feeling, simply like chatting with an old friend. Within a couple of minutes, a few nice moments were captured by him. I really like such a connection and understanding, natural yet sincere. Thank you!