Tina Farifteh (b. 1982, Tehran, Iran) is a visual artist whose work is poised at the intersection of art, politics, and philosophy. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and a Master’s degree from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. 

Her interest lies particularly in what makes us human, and how human life can become a plaything for politics. Farifteh reflects on the impact of power structures on the lives of ordinary people. By doing so, she encourages her audience to engage with complex and often uncomfortable topics that are frequently avoided.

In her audiovisual installation The Flood (2021-ongoing) she dissects right-wing, populist rhetoric and how refugees are dehumanized and framed as a ‘natural disaster’. 

In her short documentary Kitten or Refugee? (2023, Prospektor / VPRO), she investigates our human capacity for empathy, and our limits to such. 

In tandem with these projects, she is developing Tina in Sexbierum, a transmedia project on displacement, detachment, assimilation, loss, and longing for a home. The Flood won several prizes, among others the ‘The Royal Academy Bachelor Award’ and the ‘Meestervertellers 2023’. Kitten or Refugee? was selected for the Debut Competition of the Dutch Film Festival, and won the 1st prize for Storytelling at De Zilveren Camera.