S’pore photographer Lui Hock Seng, who had his first solo exhibition at 81, dies at 88

SINGAPORE – Lui Hock Seng, a self-taught native photographer who discovered acclaim together with his first exhibition at 81, died on July 26 on the age of 88.

He had been admitted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for pneumonia, mentioned his youngest son Roger Looi, 51, who confirmed his dying.

Lui was recognized with lymphoma,

a most cancers affecting the lymphatic system, in 2018. While he underwent chemotherapy on the time, medical doctors not too long ago informed the household that the most cancers had unfold.

“Photography was his life. It was in his blood. Wherever he went, he took along a camera,” mentioned Mr Looi, who had taken a couple of months’ absence from his work within the oil and gasoline trade to look after his father. Lui, a widower, is survived by his three sons and two grandchildren.

While Lui didn’t take up pictures full-time, his wide-ranging oeuvre spanned streetscapes, portraits, nature, structure and trade. He roamed the streets of Singapore in his free time, pursuing his ardour for pictures for about 60 years. His black-and-white pictures of the nation, taken within the Sixties and Seventies, gained recognition prior to now a number of years. 

His work recorded a Singapore that has lengthy vanished, capturing photographs comparable to snake meat distributors in Chinatown, letter-writers for the illiterate and a boy drawing water from a nicely in a kampung.

He was as soon as lauded by Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong as an exemplar of residing nicely in previous age.

After a profession as a mechanic, Lui labored as a cleaner. From 2012, he was employed at native media firm Singapore Press Holdings (now often called SPH Media), which publishes The Straits Times, the place his expertise in pictures was found. He left his job after he acquired most cancers.

An ST article profiling him and his pictures in 2016 prompted two strangers who admired his work to come back collectively to achieve a wider viewers for Lui.

At that point, French expatriate Nicolas Genty, who was working as an engineer within the petrochemical trade, informed ST that he was struck by a dramatic {photograph} of Ellenborough Market in Clarke Quay that had been taken by Lui within the Sixties, which accompanied the article. Mr Genty later purchased a print of the market from Lui, the primary piece Lui had ever bought. 

Mr Genty, himself an newbie photographer who has printed a ebook of his work, e-mailed organisations that handled pictures, together with the non-profit centre for pictures and movie Objectifs, about Lui.

Objectifs’ outreach director Ryan Chua, 46, had additionally learn the 2016 ST article when he acquired Mr Genty’s e-mail.

Lui had his first solo photograph exhibition in 2018 at Objectifs, which was curated by Mr Chua.

Titled Passing Time,

it showcased black-and-white pictures of Singapore that Lui took within the Sixties and Seventies. His first photograph ebook, bearing the identical title, was subsequently printed by Objectifs.

Later that 12 months, then Prime Minister Lee shared a BBC video of Lui in a Facebook publish, saying it was clear that his ardour for pictures had not diminished, however grown stronger. He described Lui as “a brilliant example of active ageing”.

Objectifs has represented Lui’s work since their first encounter and Mr Chua informed ST that he developed a friendship with Lui. 

Mr Chua mentioned: “When I first saw his work, I was really impressed. I was like, wow, what a treasure trove. He is such a talented person and his work is very artistic – the composition, light and shadows are beautiful. I thought, how come nobody knows about him?

“He preserved a piece of history that the younger generation have not seen, and may not know about. For the older generation, it probably evoked the good old times.”

Mr Chua positioned Lui within the custom of salon pictures. Salons, held all over the world, are competitions wherein photographers submit their finest photographs to be judged and critiqued by consultants. 

Lui picked up awards in a number of pictures competitions through the years, and was accepted as an Associate of The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain in 1963.

In 2016, he gained third prize within the color class within the Kampong Glam Community Club pictures competitors.

Mr Chua says Lui’s work was additionally influenced by pictorialism, a world motion that dominated pictures within the early twentieth century. It typically refers to a mode wherein the photographer creates an aesthetic picture, slightly than documenting an in any other case easy photograph.  

Mr Chua mentioned: “He was very kind and down-to-earth, and so approachable and friendly. He was generous as well. When we passed him the earnings from sales of his work, he donated some money to us as a way of giving back.” 

Objectifs is a registered charity with Institution of a Public Character standing.

Mr Chua mentioned he was additionally struck by Lui’s resilience, from coaching his left eye after struggling partial imaginative and prescient loss to having most cancers to the dying of his spouse lately.

In an accident at work when Lui was in his 40s, a steel splinter struck his proper eye whereas he was repairing a automobile. He merely put his left eye to the digicam as a substitute.

Mr Chua mentioned: “Even though life had been difficult, he was always positive.”

Lui turned all for pictures as a young person within the late Fifties. A pal launched him to the South-east Asia Photographic Society, the place he honed his expertise after changing into a member for a couple of years.

The son of a tailor and a housewife, he spent a long time working as a mechanic, his first job out of faculty.

The third of six kids, he couldn’t afford a digicam till his eldest brother purchased him a German-made Rolleiflex in his youth. In Lui’s previous age, he stored up with the occasions, utilizing a digital digicam and infrequently experimenting with Photoshop.

When he was youthful, he typically labored as a contract photographer, taking footage at weddings, dinners and funerals. He stopped on the age of 60 when he discovered the work too tiring.

He informed ST beforehand that he didn’t assume he may make a residing as a full-time photographer as he felt he wouldn’t have a steady revenue.

Mr Looi remembers his father as form, humble, hardworking, soft-spoken and delicate. He mentioned: “He never showed off. He would just smile and say thank you when others commented on his work. He said, when you’re kind to people, people will be kind to you in return.”

While there have been different small-scale showcases of Lui’s work afterwards, Lui was glad that he acquired the possibility to point out the general public his work via his first solo exhibition.

Mr Looi mentioned: “He told me he was very happy that his wish had come true.”