Talk: Photographing History

Publication Type
Talks

Equipped with cameras and a drone, photographer Sim Chi Yin spent two months traveling along the border of North Korea and across six American states to depict a world we otherwise would not see. 
 
Commissioned as this year’s Nobel Peace Prize photographer, Sim Chi Yin was invited to make an exhibition on the 2017 Peace Prize winner, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). In her NYU Shanghai presentation, she shared insights from her travels and elaborated on her creative process tackling the heavy issues of international politics. Watch highlights from the conversation below:

 

Across both countries, Sim Chi Yin found some striking similarities in the landscapes–both natural and man-made.  
 
“Elements of what I saw in both places fed off each other in my mind. Some of the parallels were clear as soon as I shot the second picture in the pairs. Others I discovered in the editing process.” 

Image 1: Hatches over silos which in the 1970s held missiles meant to shoot down incoming Soviet warheads, North Dakota, November 2017. Image 2: The North Korean city of Hyesan, about 120km from North Korea's nuclear test site, October 2017
Picture by Sim Chi Yin for the Nobel Peace Center/2017
Left: Hatches over silos which in the 1970s held missiles meant to shoot down incoming Soviet warheads, North Dakota, November 2017.
Right: The North Korean city of Hyesan, about 120km from North Korea's nuclear test site, October 2017

 

Image 1: A factory producing into the night, in Manpo, North Korea, October 2017. Image 2: The desk of a commander in the control room of a decommissioned Titan II Missile Site in Arizona, November 2017

Picture by Sim Chi Yin for the Nobel Peace Center/2017
Left: A factory producing into the night, in Manpo, North Korea, October 2017.
Right: The desk of a commander in the control room of a decommissioned Titan II Missile Site in Arizona, November 2017

 

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize exhibition is named “Ban the Bomb,” inspired by ICAN’s slogan. The exhibition will be on view until November 2018. 
 
Introduction by Assistant Arts Professor Antonius Wiriadjaja and moderation of the Q&A by Monika Lin, Clinical Assistant Professor of Arts.