Inherited Forms

Inherited Forms includes artworks created by Ikon Youth Programme during a workshop led by artist Hannah Lim (July 2026).

The display on Ikon’s Slow Boat, explores how personal histories accumulate through materials, objects, creatures and fragments. The exhibitied works range from unfinished to overworked, from familiar to borrowed. Together, they form a temporary material archive—messy, emotional and decorative—shaped by what we inherit.

Working with polymer clay, Ikon Youth Programme members explored how objects travel across countries, homes, trade routes and generations, gathering new meanings.

Hannah Lim’s practice—reimagining histories of Chinoiserie and ornamental design through sculpture—prompted conversations around imitation, taste, migration and shared cultural memory within Birmingham.

Aimed at 16–25-year-olds, and families

About Hannah

Hannah Lim b.1998 is a London based artist working between sculpture, installation and drawing. She received her BA in sculpture from the University of Edinburgh and her MFA from The University of Oxford’s Ruskin School of Art. She has recently had solo shows with Pangolin London, Wilder Gallery, Huxley-Parlour, 9 French Place, Edinburgh Printmakers and Commonage Projects whilst also exhibiting in group shows with The Royal Scottish Academy, Young V&A, Bloomberg New Contemporaries and Christies.

About Ikon Youth Programme (IYP) & Slow Boat

Ikon Youth Programme (IYP) is a group of emerging artists, designers, writers, photographers and policy makers (16–21yrs).

With the support of Freelands Foundation, over six years (2021-27), Ikon Youth Programme  (IYP) navigates the waterways on board by producing a programme of workshops, exhibitions and live events on Slow Boat, a heritage canal boat that tours the West Midlands. We collaborate with national and regional artists by sharing resources and regularly exchanging ideas and knowledge.

Image Credits: Courtesy of Ikon Gallery 2026