The Flood examines the malicious metaphor of refugees as threatening water: “a tsunami of refugees”; “our country is being flooded”; “they are pouring into Europe”. This rhetoric has gradually been adopted by mainstream politicians and the media. It trickles down into laws and policies.

In reality, it is precisely the refugees whose lives are threatened by the water. People trying to survive the Mediterranean Sea in rubber dinghies. Trying to survive the winter on the Aegean coast in primitive tents. People being violently pushed back at European borders. For them, water is truly deadly.

As a spectator of The Flood, you feel as though you are right in the middle of the deep, swirling sea yourself.

About Tina Farifteh
Tina Farifteh is an Iranian-Dutch photographer and filmmaker. Her photographic approach is research-based and conceptual, often combining (moving) images, audio, text, and data. She invites us to look at subjects we would rather turn away from, because of their complexity or discomfort. For instance, she reflects on the way human-made power structures, such as nation-states and corporations, affect the lives of ordinary people. Often focusing on individuals who are not only excluded from the privileges granted by dominant political and economic systems, but are also sacrificed by them in order to make the system ‘work’.

For the monumental audiovisual installation The Flood, she won multiple awards and was recently named ‘Master Storyteller’ by the Narrative Journalism Foundation (Stichting Verhalende Journalistiek).
With her short film Kitten or Refugee?, she won 1st prize in the Storytelling category of De Zilveren Camera in 2023. This can be seen during Into The Great Wide Open at Podium Vlieland, as part of the short film compilation Other Futures, A Better Today 2.

Tina Farifteh - https://tinafarifteh.com/

The art programme of Into The Great Wide Open is made possible in part with the support of the Creative Industries Fund NL, the Mondriaan Fund, and De Versterking. The screening at Into The Great Wide Open is made possible in part by INDYVIDEO.