Swimmer

What does it mean to swim in a world where nothing remains still? Water may leak, overflow, float or move beneath the surface, carrying things in directions that cannot always be anticipated. Extending his earlier investigations into domestic space and Zygmunt Bauman's concept of liquid modernity, Seah approaches swimming as a way of navigating the uncertainties of contemporary life.

In Swimmer, familiar domestic interiors and Peranakan tile motifs are unsettled by fluid, fragmented and shifting forms. Paintings on aluminium bring together everyday imagery and industrial surfaces, where reflections further complicate the appearance of stable structures. Works such as Leak, Float and Undercurrent suggest different conditions of movement, from gradual infiltration to forces that remain hidden beneath an apparently calm surface.

In Golden Skin, different skin tones are painted onto modular brass plates, their golden reflections recalling the desirability often associated with bronzed skin. The individual panels can be rearranged into different configurations, bringing questions of bodily appearance, cultural identity and aesthetic ideals into a structure that resists a fixed arrangement. Skin colour, often used to identify and categorise individuals, becomes part of an unstable composition.

Presented in Singapore, Here or There and There or Here reflect on the lives of those moving between Malaysia and Singapore in search of better opportunities. The distance between the two shores is geographical, but the reasons for crossing are not merely economic. Beyond differences in income and currency, decisions to leave may also be shaped by education, institutional conditions, social expectations and the possibilities available within each society. Yet the desire for another life is often accompanied by a continuous reassessment of what has been left behind. From either shore, the other may appear to offer something that remains out of reach. The meaning of home changes with the position from which it is viewed.

In 1 Song, a school piano was retuned so that its keys could produce only the Malaysian national anthem. An instrument ordinarily capable of countless musical possibilities was restricted to a single predetermined melody. Presented in Singapore, which had once been part of the same federation as Malaysia, the work evokes a shared but divided political history. It also reflects on the contradictory nature of national identity: capable of providing belonging and solidarity, yet sometimes becoming rigid and exclusionary when diverse voices are expected to conform to a single expression.

Across these works, Swimmer considers how individuals navigate shifting social conditions, cultural expectations and national boundaries. Movement may offer possibilities for change, but it does not necessarily guarantee freedom or belonging. If identities and borders are themselves shaped by changing histories, how might we imagine a sense of belonging that can accommodate different voices without requiring them to become one?

Keywords: #LiquidModernity #NationalIdentity #Migration #Belonging #MaterialCulture #CulturalIdentity #Conformity