From her home in the Netherlands, Tina Farifteh follows the protests in her motherland on social media. She takes in the images of the brave freedom fighters and the brutal violence they face. She compiles found footage and searches for a way to deal with what she sees.

How are the protests covered when professional photographers and journalists are not allowed to work? Who makes the images we see? Who distributes them? Whose eyes are these images meant for? What do we see? I see unarmed women. They fight with their bodies. With their hair, bare hands, eyes and voices. They fight for autonomy and governance of their minds and their bodies. The same bodies that are subject to severe violence. Targeting their eyes and genitals. How can we look at these images? How much suffering are you willing to see? Would you still look at them if I show it all? When would you turn and look away? Do I create work because I’m afraid I otherwise would look away?

I zoom in. I listen. I take screenshots. I put them together. I appropriate them. I witness.