tina farifteh

We feel bonds with distant friends, good neighbors, or complete strangers. Iranian-Dutch artist Tina Farifteh has lived in the Frisian village of Sexbierum for four years and has sought to unravel the concept of mienskip – the Frisian word for mutual connection, a sense of community, and active care for one another. This way of living together sounds so promising. But is there enough space for everyone within a mienskip? By deconstructing myths, we may come even closer to the essence of humanity.

Tina Farifteh is a visual artist who uses photography—alongside audio, text, and data—to explore the role of images and how they influence our thoughts, emotions, and behavior. In her project Killer Skies (2018), she examined the impact of the ‘dronification’ of armies; for her installation The Flood (2021), she researched refugees traveling to Europe and the political rhetoric used to dehumanize them; and in the documentary Kitten or Refugee?, she studies the mechanics of empathy. Tina in Sexbierum is a multimedia project about displacement, disconnection, assimilation, loss, and the longing for a home.