About the Artwork
SEA STATES Study explores the biophysical, aspirational and cerebral contours of the Southeast Asian city, through the visible and invisible lenses of the sea. Made up of nine components and inspired by the World Meteorological Organization’s code for measuring sea conditions, which measures the varying states ranging from calm, to moderate, to the phenomenal.

SEA STATE is a series of ten chapters initiated in 2005 by artist with the premise of inverting perceptions of sea and land in the island city-state of Singapore.

About the Artist
Charles Lim Yi Yong (b. 1973) lives and works in Singapore. He studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, London. A former national sailor, Lim’s practice stems from his bodily engagement with the natural world, mediated and informed by field research and experimentation in various media. Charles’s work encompasses film, installation, sounds, conversations, text, drawing, and photography.

Since 2005, he has developed a body of work entitled SEA STATE that explores Singapore’s political, biophysical and psychic contours through the visible and invisible lenses of the sea. Lim has participated in numerous institutional and international exhibitions, including Documenta 11 (2002), Manifesta 7 (2008), Shanghai Biennale (2008), Singapore Biennale (2011) and SEA STATE 9: proclamation garden (2019) at National Gallery Singapore.