Tina Farifteh

About

Tina Farifteh is an Iranian-Dutch visual artist based in the Netherlands. She obtained Master’s Degrees from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam and a Bachelor’s Degree from the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. Thanks to this academic and cultural background, she is used to seeing the world from different angles. In her work, she reflects on how man-made power structures impact the lives of ordinary people. Often focusing on people not only excluded from the privileges granted by the dominant political and economic systems, but also damaged by these to make the system ‘work’. Central to her work is the role of images and how these influence our thoughts, emotions and behaviour.

Her photographic approach is research-based and conceptual and often combines images, audio, text and data. She seduces us into looking at topics we prefer to look away from, because of their complexity or discomfort. In her photographic project Killer Skies (2018), she explored the impact of the ‘dronization’ of armies. For her audiovisual installation The Flood (2021) she carried out extensive research into the situation of refugees on the move or stuck at European borders, as well as the political language used to dehumanise and frame refugees as a ‘natural disaster’, normalising the absurdity of how we currently treat them.
In the short documentary Kitten or Refugee?, she researches how empathy works and why we behave empathically towards some and indifferently or with cruelty towards others. Kitten or Refugee? was selected for the Debut Competition and premiered at The Netherlands Film Festival (NFF) 2023. Tina in Sexbierum is a multimedia project on displacement, detachment, assimilation, loss and the longing to have a home which will be presented at BredaPhoto2024.
Farifteh graduated with honours from The Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague and is a member of Futures, a European photography platform that brings together talents and expertise. She has won the Royal Academy Bachelor Award, Fotofestival Naarden Talent Award and second prize in the De Zilveren Camera photography awards, in the Storytelling category. In 2023 she was one of the selected artists for NFF Fellowship 2023.

Artworks

Curriculum Vitae

Tina Farifteh (Teheran, 1982) | artist’s website

Education

2021

Bachelor in Arts (Photography), Royal Academy of Art The Hague

2013

Executive MBA, Rotterdam School of Management

2008

MScBA Marketing Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam

2008

MScBA Entrepreneurship & New Business Venturing, Erasmus University

2007

International Exchange Program, Università Luigi Bocconi, Milan

2003

Bachelor of Business Administration, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Exhibitions & Commissions

2025

Asylum, Document Nederland, the annual photography commission and exhibition by Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

When I Saw the Sun and the Moon at the Same Time, group exhibition: Silence & The Presence of Everything. Stedelijk Museum Schiedam

ik en jij, Loods6, group exhibition: WARÚM DARÚM WARÚM DARÚM— a conversation piece

When I Saw the Sun and the Moon at the Same Time, Fries Museum, Leeuwaarden

ik en jij, group exhibition: Ergens tussen hoop en vrees, at Rijksmuseum Twente, Enschede

When I Saw the Sun and the Moon at the Same Time and ik en jij in a group show on empathy at Gallery Vriend van Bavink, Amsterdam

2024
Kitten or Refugee?, Aegean Film Festival, Patmos, Greece

Kitten or Refugee?, Concordia Art Space, Enschede

ik en jij, audio documentary in collaboration with Laura Stek on Radio1 docs

When I Saw the Sun and the Moon at the Same Time, solo exhibition at BredaPhoto Festival 2024, Breda

ik en jij, group exhibition in The Story Space, The Netherlands Film Festival (NFF), Utrecht

The Flood, Into The Great Wide Open Festival, Vlieland

ik en jij, ROZENSTRAAT, Amsterdam

Kitten or Refugee?, ROZENSTRAAT, Amsterdam

Kitten or Refugee?, De Zilveren Camera exhibition, Museum Hilversum

The Flood, group exhibition: The Fire In Their Eyes, Kunstlinie, Almere

2023

Kitten or Refugee?, ROZENSTRAAT, Amsterdam

The Flood, The Fire In Their Eyes, Kunstlinie, Almere

ik en jij, Refresh Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam

ik en jij, No Limits Art Castle, Sexyland, Amsterdam

ik en jij, UNFAIR, Amsterdam   

Iran Protests, Resilient Rebels, Museum Helmond

Kitten or Refugee, The Netherlands Film Festival

The Flood, Refresh Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam

Vrije Vogels, BredaPhoto, Breda

The Flood, Video Art Miden, Kalamata, Greece

The Flood, RAW Photo Triennale Worpswede, Germany

Iran Protests, Gevel Expo Paradiso, Amsterdam

Qoqnoos ققنوس - You can’t burn women made of fire (curator and participating artist)

2022

The Flood, No Access group exhibition in the Former NATO Headquarters in Maastricht

The Flood, No Access group exhibition in the Former NATO Headquarters in Maastricht‘The Flood’, Melkweg Expo in collaboration with Holland Festival, Amsterdam

The Flood, The New Current exhibition as part of Art Rotterdam

The Flood, De Zilveren Camera exhibition, Museum Hilversum

2021

Commissioned work for The Royal Academy of Arts and Royal Conservatoire, The Hague

Selected for MIAP (Message In A Photo) fund and collective with theme ‘Future of Nature’

Talent Award exhibition at Fotofestival Naarden

Graduation show at Royal Academy of Arts The Hague

2020

Commissioned work for Bartiméus Foundation, Amsterdam

Mother Tongue, The Grey Space in the Middle, The Hague

2018-2020

Mother Tongue, The Grey Space in the Middle, The Hague

Killer Skies, To Infinity and Beyond, BredaPhoto, Breda

Ontology of Power, Forgetful Number, Kulturni Centar Lab, Novi Sad, Serbia

Publications & Talks

2023

Trigger Fomu - ‘Are We Angry Enough?’ The cover image and an article on female rage

Mister Motley, review ‘ik en jij

Podcast van Pakhuis de Zwijger

‘Witte Kamer’, review ‘Kitten or Refugee’, De Groene Amsterdammer

‘Hoe kan het dat het leed van vluchtelingen ons niet raakt?’’, interview in De Volkskrant

‘Deze filmmaker stelt de vraag: waarom redden we de een wel, en de ander niet?’ Interview Vice

‘Een Uur Cultuur’ regarding ‘Kitten or Refugee’, Radio 1

‘Waarom halen we sommige vluchtelingen zelf met de auto op en laten we anderen verdrinken?, Metro News

‘Empathie heeft ook een donkere kant’, interview DocTalks, 2Doc

De Societeit (NTR), interview

‘Is het dan zo erg dat we hier zijn?’ interview in Het Parool

Nooit Meer Slapen (vpro), interview

Een jaar na de moord op Mahsa Amini toont ‘Vrije Vogels’ de gezichten achter het Iraanse protest interview reagarding ‘Vrije Vogels’

Mister Motley, Kunst is Lang, interview

‘Vrijheid ter grootte van een nagel: de Melkweg in Amsterdam toont werk over Iraanse vrouwen in verzet’ Volkskrant review ‘Qoqnoos’

PF on Qoqnoos

Greif x FUTURES interview with talent Tina Farifteh

Diaspora Radio, interview

Een Uur Cultuur regarding ‘Qoqnoos’, Radio 1

NRC magazine interview ‘Rising Stars: Photography’

Selected panels, screenings and talks

2023

Kunsthal Rotterdam, Framing Humanity during the exhibition on Ai Wei Wei, artist talk on empathy and images, in collaboration with Roffa Mon Amour

KABK Studiom Generale, screening Kitten or Refugee and artist talk

Oxfam Novib, viewing and talk on how to create empathy without dehumanisation

Amsterdam Museum Refresh, Meet the Makers Roundtable

NFF Fellowship Digital Culture, fellowship presentation  

Melkweg Cinema, screening for Fundraising for children in Gaza

Kriterion, viewing Kitten or Refugee + The Flood and artist talk

TivoliVredenburg, viewing and expert panel talk

Fotodok, De Ander, Het beeld en Wij, screening and artist talk on migration and perception

The Netherlands Film Festival, viewing and artist talk

Pakhuis de Zwijger, viewing and interactive session with cultural makers on empathy

World Press Photo, The Stories That Matter, panel talk on the role of photography on solidarity across borders  

2022

‘Midden in de meedogenloze installatie van Tina Farifteh, terwijl een computerstem de doden telt’, Volkskrant review ‘The Flood’

Artist talk on empathy and images, Amsterdam Museum X Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam

Artist talk about the process and context of The Flood and research on empathy and images, Melkweg, Amsterdam

Impact strategy talk at Filmpact, Ghent

Impact strategy talk Vers Film Festival, Amsterdam

‘Social Impact of Creativity’ speaker, organised by What Design Can Do in Stadsschouwburg, Amsterdam

‘Impact in practice’ panel discussion, organised by NAPA (Netherlands Audiovisual Producers’ Alliance) during Movies That Matter festival, The Hague

Impact Strategy guest lectures, The Netherlands Film Academy, Amsterdam

‘Tina in Sexbierum’ trailer presented at MIAP closing event in Sexyland, Amsterdam

2018 - 2021

‘Golven van Empathie’ publication of ‘The Flood’ in PF photography magazine

Artist Talk at ‘Picture This’ in Fotomuseum, The Hague

‘How Turkey became a drone power (and what that tells us about the future of warfare)’

Publication of ‘Killer Skies’ in The Correspondent (Dutch and international editions)

Artist talk at MotMot Gallery during BredaPhoto, Breda

Awards and nominations

2024

Winner 1st prize for Storytelling, De Zilveren Camera

2023

Selected artist for The Netherlands Film Festival Fellowship Digital Culture

Selected artist for Refresh Amsterdam, theme: War & Conflict, Amsterdam Museum

2022

2nd prize for Storytelling, De Zilveren Camera

Nominated by Der Greif for FUTURES 2022

2021

Winner of Fotofestival Naarden Talent Award

Nominated for Heden Start Award

Winner of Royal Academy Bachelor Award

Winner of BA Photography Department Award

2018

Selected for the Talent Program at BredaPhoto