'Dying To Breathe,' 'Rat Tribe' exhibited in Germany

Pulitzer Center Grantee Sim Chi Yin has covered the plight of Chinese migrants living in Beijing's basements and bomb shelters, and gold miners from the country's west dying of lung disease. Photos and film from both of these projects, respectively entitled "Rat Tribe" and "Dying to Breathe," were recently exhibited at the Konfuzius-Institut Leipzig, in an exhibit entitled "Flying High: Young Chinese Photography."

In her review of the exhibit for the city's English-language newspaper, The Leipzig Glocal, Maeshelle West-Davies wrote, "I was moved to tears by Sim Chi Yin's short film, Dying to Breathe, documenting a gold miner who was suffering from silicosis. Naturally I was moved by his pain, but Sim Chi Yin manages to show the range of emotions felt by the carers. This is because, while she had just gone there to document the topic in general, she found a way for him to have an operation that prolonged his life. She grew very close to the family and discovered a true love story."