For Gods Only: Swiss Photographer Hannes Schmid’s Unlikely Devotion to Singapore’s Vanishing Rituals

When Swiss photographer Hannes Schmid first encountered a Chinese street opera in Singapore more than 20 years ago, it was not the performance that struck him; it was the silence. “Why is it like this?” he wondered. His wife replied, “I don’t know what it is, but I only know you’re not allowed to go there.” On a makeshift stage in Punggol, intricately painted performers went through their ritual movements, their audience reduced to rows of empty plastic chairs. Intrigued by this, he set out on a mission to capture the dancer’s essence, preserving culture, and creating art.

This sense of reverence sits at the heart of For Gods Only, a deeply personal body of work now on show at A Life in Pictures, a retrospective of Schmid’s career at Appetite Singapore until August 10. While Schmid is known internationally for his other photo series, including Fashion & Wildlife and Backstage, also on display, For Gods Only marks a quieter, more introspective turn. Here, he focuses on ritual, spirit, and the spaces between, presenting a series of large-scale portraits that blend photography and calligraphy, honouring the ritual and performer.

The series is intimately tied to his Singaporean-Chinese father-in-law, a master calligrapher who inspired the spiritual direction of the project. When Schmid asked him to describe the opera using Chinese characters, he was given over 140. Each character represents the opera, from a different light. He was fascinated by the fluidity of Chinese script – how meaning can shift entirely by rearranging characters, unlike the fixed structure of Roman or Arabic alphabets. Through trial and error, layering ink and image, Schmid and his father-in-law painted the characters onto canvases that blend image and text. 

“[The paintings] are balanced through yin and yang.” Surrounded by a large white frame symbolising the realm of the Gods, the black and white image sits in the centre of the canvas, grounding it in the human world. The result is a striking fusion of the spiritual and the earthly.

Gaining access to the opera troupe was a slow act of persistence and trust-building. After his first brief encounter, Schmid returned frequently, initially at a distance. He decided to track down the same troupe – the Kim Eng troupe, who were, at first, wary of his presence. “They shooed me away a few times,” he calls. “Finally, they gave up. I was then allowed to be there from a distance, then closer, and closer and closer.” It was only after earning the trust that he was invited to photograph them. “At first, they were scared–they said, ‘You are with us, so the Gods will punish you, and punish us too.’ But later they told me, ‘Maybe the Gods want you to be here. Because after we’re gone, you’re the only one who’s recorded what we’ve devoted our lives to.’ That was something very special for me.”

Today, Schmid sees the opera as more than fading entertainment–it’s a metaphor for Singapore’s cultural inheritance. In a nation often praised for its speed and economic ambition, he argues that genuine progress must include cultural preservation. For Schmid, art and music offer the deepest forms of self-expression, and should be freely and publicly accessible, not treated as luxury commodities. With the rise of AI and ever-accelerating technological change, he believes it’s up to the next generation to champion and safeguard the role of art in society. In Singapore, he hopes to see continued growth in support for art and film, envisioning a creative community that feels confident in expressing a wide range of ideas and perspectives.

Schmid himself has shifted from producing physical work to what he calls “social art”, founding Smiling Gecko, a school and creative hub in Kampong Chhnang, Cambodia, which empowers youth through education and artistic skill development. To him, preserving tradition isn’t about nostalgia, it’s about making space for spirit, memory, and meaning in a rapidly modernising world.

For Gods Only ultimately asks what it means to care – about heritage, about meaning and about presence. In a society that increasingly prizes speed and optimisation, Schmid’s work calls for a slowing down. “We have to give our roots to our children. Our heritage and future.” 

As Singapore’s street operas fade from view, Schmid’s images serve not as elegies, but as acts of devotion. Each frame stands as a quiet tribute: to the Gods, to the spirits, and those who continue to remember. You can view For Gods Only as part of A Life in Pictures at Appetite Singapore, showing until August 10. Schmid will also be hosting an Art of Transformation masterclass on August 3 (8:30 am – 12:00 pm), where he’ll share personal stories behind his most iconic works and take participants through key moments in his career. More information can be found here.