What do you do? I’m a video and performance artist working with issues around feminism, migration and racism through documentary-based work, pop cultural and cinematic references, humor and kicking douchebags in the face. I also direct, produce and edit music videos. And I try hard at doing nothing, while I also spend a lot of time thinking about how and why humans as a species are so fucking insane and destructive. Why? My point exactly.
What did you want to be when you were a child? A veterinarian or an artist. But thinking back, I didn’t really understand what either of those professions entailed.
Did somebody ever advice you not to do what you want in life? Yeah, patriarchy and racism have been telling me to sit down and stfu all of my life. So for just this one time I’m gonna quote Dr Alban - LOOK WHO’S TALKING NAAAAHOOOOW!
Did you have a feminist awakening? I’ve had several, but I remember that even as a kid in elementary school I noticed how differently boys and girls were treated and how boys were given way more space to act and react and how I was expected to behave in a certain way because I was put in the ”girl” category. When I was in art school at Konstfack for my BFA I did an exchange semester at California College of the Arts, in SF/Oakland, and that was when I realized that not all feminists need to adhere to the rules set up by straight white feminists, which was an extremely liberating, powerful and eye opening experience.
What is politics? Basically everything around us, for example how we all mow through electronics like there was no tomorrow and meanwhile people are dying in a dirty mining industry to mine the minerals needed to make those phones, computers and iWhatevers. And unfortunately that applies to basically everything you buy. Someone always has to pay a price that’s way way higher than the one on the price tag.
What is important? I think about this a lot and I still don’t think I have a better answer than nothing and everything. Sometimes life as a phenomenon seems way too grand and all-encompassing for any of our human experiences to matter, but on the other hand, our human experiences are everything we have.
What are your hopes for the future? That Sweden and the rest of Europe will take a real stance against fascism. And that social media will crawl back to the damp, dark hellhole it came from.
What inspires you? My friends and what they do but also my most immediate reality. And whenever someone says ”that’s impossible”.
What makes you angry? People. Just everything about us. We seriously are the worst haha. I mean, it’s not like nature or the universal in general ever pissed me off but people, omg.
What keeps you going? My family, my friends and my ambitions. But also that wonderful feeling when there’s nothing you need or have to do and the sun rays hit your face and a beautiful warm breeze caresses you as it softly flies by. That and laying down. Laying down doing nothing is my new hobby.
Who are your favorite female artists? There are so many but here are a few: Shirin Neshat, Stanya Kahn & Sarah Cromarty.
Who are your favorite female musicians? Zhala, Gnucci, M.I.A, Missy Elliot.
Who are your favorite female writers? Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Whenever I finish one of her books I always wish I had that memory eraser thing they had in M.I.B so I could erase the memory of what I just read and experience it all over again. I’m reading a book right now that is so beautifully written and captivating that when I’d almost reached the end I decided to start over from page 1 because I wasn’t ready to let it go yet. http://www.roxyfarhat.com/
