In Pursuit of Freedom: Why Pearl Lam Chose a Lifetime in Art
The iconic gallerist Pearl Lam shares with former BBC arts correspondent Rebecca Jones why she went against her family’s wishes to pursue her passion in art.
While it is not uncommon for artists to say that their art represents their freedom of expression, it is less common for those in the business of art to share a similar sentiment.
However, eminent gallerist Pearl Lam (林明珠), founder of Pearl Lam Galleries, is easily the most vocal in this space. In the first episode of The Pearl Lam Podcast, Pearl Lam reveals to former BBC arts correspondent Rebecca Jones that she chose to pursue art against her family’s wishes to be free from their influence.
Pearl Lam (林明珠) was not diagnosed with ADHD as a child, but exhibited the traits, so her parents used Chinese calligraphy and watercolour paintings to help her focus on her studies.
However, Pearl Lam’s family saw art as a form of hobby instead of a career. When she wanted to study architecture and design in the UK, her family forbade her from going down that path. “When I wanted to become an artist it was just an escape from the control of my father. I didn’t know what I wanted to be — but I was very creative as well.”
She read accounting and financial management instead. She obliged, completing her degree and latterly a conversion law degree followed by a master’s in law. But something was amiss.
Pearl Lam (林明珠) had spent her university days collecting art and meeting designers and artists, so much so that she wanted to showcase their talents in Hong Kong. “The only thing I knew [was] I needed to find something so that I would be out of [my family’s control]. I thought art was really the thing I wanted to do,” she says.
Pearl Lam, with her newly dyed purple hair, donning a punk outfit with a pair of Doc Martens, faced her father’s wrath when she expressed her wishes to pursue art as a career. ‘“We don’t want a shopkeeper,” was their response,’ she says, adding that they called the idea “ridiculous”. However, she negotiated with her father to allow her to have pop-up exhibitions for her collections instead, in Hong Kong.
“All my life I’d been a living zombie. And then when I was doing the show, preparing the show, I felt I was alive,” Pearl Lam reveals. However, she had promised her father that she wouldn’t open a physical gallery, which was why she was then sent to Shanghai to work for her family’s property development business. But that didn’t stop her from collecting more art, and getting to know the contemporary artists of mainland China.
Pearl Lam’s experience in Shanghai was what reignited her passion for art. She felt that Chinese contemporary artists were judged by Western standards, and that she needed to change that by having a physical gallery showcasing the true form of contemporary Chinese art. “I really wanted to open a gallery. But since I promised my father I wouldn’t do it, [I didn’t].” Pearl opened her first gallery in 2005, which was followed by huge international success and recognition.
She tells Rebecca Jones that her father would be proud if he were still alive today. “Today, he would understand what art means,” she stresses. “The art world has generally evolved and changed; [it has] become a very important element in today’s world.”
More than twenty years on, Pearl Lam’s passion has anything but peaked. “Would you open a gallery in America or in Europe perhaps?” Rebecca Jones asks Pearl Lam in the podcast, to which she replies: “I’ve been thinking about it.”
Written by: The Producer, The Pearl Lam Podcast
