Sim Chi Yin Explained

Sim Chi Yin is an artist from Singapore whose research-based practice includes photography, moving image, archival interventions, book-making and text-based performance, and focuses on history, conflict, memory and extraction.^[1] She has exhibited in solo shows in Europe and Asia, and her work has been shown in biennales and triennials.

She is working on a multi-chapter project around her family history and the decolonization war in Malaya, “One Day We’ll Understand” — most recently shown at the Istanbul Biennale 2022. Sim was commissioned as the Nobel Peace Prize photographer in 2017. Her work is in the collections of Harvard Art Museums, The J. Paul Getty Museum, M+ Hong Kong, Singapore Art Museum, and the National Museum Singapore. Sim is represented by Zilberman Gallery in Berlin and Hanart TZ Gallery in Hong Kong.^[2]

Life and work

Sim was born in Singapore. She read history and international relations at the London School of Economics on a scholarship.^[3]

She worked as a print journalist and foreign correspondent at The Straits Times for nine years.^{[4] [5]} In 2010 she quit to work full time as a photographer.^{[4] [5]} Within four years she was working as a photojournalist, getting regular assignments from The New York Times.^[5]

Her first major work was "The Rat Tribe", about blue-collar workers in Beijing.^{[3] [6]} It has been published widely^[6] and was shown at Rencontres d'Arles in 2012.^[3]

Sim spent four years photographing Chinese gold miners living with the occupational lung disease silicosis, published in the photo essay "Dying To Breathe",^{[7] [8]} much of it about He Quangui, also the subject of a short film.^{[3] [6]}

She was commissioned as the Nobel Peace Prize photographer in 2017 to make work about its winner, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.^{[9] [10]} Her photographs of similarities in landscapes related to nuclear weapons, both in the USA and along the China-North Korea border, were exhibited at the Nobel Peace Center museum in Oslo, Norway.^[3]

In 2014 she became an interim member of VII Photo Agency,^{[5] [11] [12]} a full member in 2016^[6] then left in 2017.^[3] In 2018 she became a nominee member of Magnum Photos.^{[13] [14]}

Sim was a PhD candidate on scholarship at King's College London, researching British Malaya.^[15]

Publications by Sim

• The Long Road Home: Journeys Of Indonesian Migrant Workers. Jakarta: International Labour Organization, 2011. .
• She Never Rode That Trishaw Again. Sim Chi Yin Studio, 2021. .^[16]

Short films

• Dying To Breathe (2015) – 10 minute film, directed and filmed by Sim
• Most People Were Silent (2017) – 3:40 minute film with audio soundscape, directed and filmed by Sim

Awards

• 2010: Magnum Foundation Social Justice and Photography fellowship at New York University^{[9] [17]}
• 2013: Finalist, W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography from the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund^{[9] [18]}
• 2014: Her World Young Woman Achiever^[19]
• 2018: Chris Hondros Award from Getty Images and the Chris Hondros Fund^{[9] [20] [21]}

External links

• • "Singapore life through the lens of a photojournalist – video"
• Dying To Breathe – 10 minute film on Vimeo

Notes and References

1. Web site: Bio . 2023-03-01 . sim chi yin. . en-US.
2. Web site: Sim Chi Yin: Methods Of Memory – Time Travels in the Archives • Asia Art Archive in America . 2023-03-01.
3. Web site: Sim Chi Yin investigates the Fallout – British Journal of Photography . 30 June 2018 . British Journal of Photography.
4. Ye. Ming. 30 June 2018. How PDN's 30 Influenced Photographers Over the Years. Time. 5 June 2015 .
5. Olivier. Laurent. 30 June 2018. Sim Chi Yin Joins VII Photo as an Interim Member. Time. 9 July 2014 .
6. News: x-publishers. 16 November 2018. A Subtle Place: An Interview with Sim Chi Yin. GUP Magazine. 16 November 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181116215820/http://www.gupmagazine.com/articles/a-subtle-place-an-interview-with-sim-chi-yin. dead.
7. News: 16 November 2018. Do the Right Thing: Sim Chi Yin on Ethical Choices. PDN Online. 15 April 2017.
8. News: hermes. 16 November 2018. Singapore photojournalist Sim Chi Yin driven by sense of social justice. The Straits Times. 30 January 2016.
9. News: 30 June 2018. La storia audace di Sim Chi Yin, la fotografa da Nobel per la Pace che riflette sul nucleare senza mezzi termini. ELLE. 15 June 2018.
10. News: hermesauto. 30 June 2018. First Singaporean Nobel Peace Prize photographer Sim Chi Yin creates nuclear exhibition. The Straits Times. 9 December 2017.
11. Web site: 30 June 2018. Sim Chi Yin Joins VII as Member Photographer. viiphoto.com.
12. News: migration. 16 November 2018. Newly minted VII photographer Sim Chi Yin's selected works. The Straits Times. 10 July 2014.
13. Web site: 29 June 2018. Magnum Photos' international new wave of Nominees – British Journal of Photography. British Journal of Photography.
14. Web site: 29 June 2018. Updates from the 2018 Magnum Photos Annual General Meeting. Magnum Photos. 26 June 2018.
15. Web site: 15 February 2019. Nobel Peace Prize photographer on a roll. 30 July 2018. The Straits Times.
16. Web site: New Book – "She Never Rode That Trishaw Again" . 2023-03-01 . sim chi yin. . 14 July 2021 . en-US.
17. Web site: 30 June 2018. Photography and Human Rights. Magnum Foundation.
18. Web site: 30 June 2018. Announcements. W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund.
19. Web site: 30 June 2018. Young Woman Achiever 2014 Sim Chi Yin – Her World Woman of The Year. Her World.
20. News: 30 June 2018. Sim Chi Yin, a Patient Photographer, Wins Chris Hondros Award. The New York Times . 25 April 2018 . Estrin . James .
21. News: 30 June 2018. Sim Chi Yin Wins 2018 Getty Images and Chris Hondros Fund Award. PDNPulse. 25 April 2018.