Afsaneh Ghafarian Rabe’I(Assen, Netherlands, 1992) is an Iranian-Dutch freelance photographer and visual artist based in Amsterdam, whose interdisciplinary practice critically engages with identity, memory, and socio-cultural narratives. Working across photography and mixed media, she situates personal experience within broader diasporic, social, and political frameworks.

Ghafarian Rabe’I’s Iranian heritage is central to her visual storytelling. As the daughter of migrant workers who settled in the Netherlands in the late 1960s, she developed an early awareness of multiple, coexisting realities, and of the dissonances between dominant cultural narratives and lived experience. This consciousness informs her research-driven practice, which examines intergenerational memory, diasporic identity, and the negotiation of belonging in complex social landscapes.

Her practice encompasses photography, painting, screen printing, textiles, and digital media, enabling a layered exploration of temporal, spatial, and material dimensions. The combination of media allows her to address both immediate and reflective perspectives, documenting ephemeral moments while constructing sustained visual narratives.

A self-taught photographer, Ghafarian Rabe’I refined her technical and conceptual approach through internships with prominent photographers such as Jan Hoek (2019) and Cigdem Yuksel (2020–2021), experiences that informed both her visual language and her methodical approach to storytelling.

In 2022, she was awarded the Stimuleringsfonds Talent Development Grant (‘22/’23), through which she presented the first phase of her ongoing research at Dutch Design Week 2023. This initial presentation positioned her work within professional and institutional discourse, engaging audiences with questions of cultural hybridity, identity, and urban youth practices, and marking a critical stage in the development of her projects for further exhibition and publication.

Her ongoing project, Parallel, investigates the dual and parallel experiences of second-generation Iranian-Dutch nationals, situating intimate, lived experience within broader socio-political and diasporic contexts. This research exemplifies her interest in documenting fleeting moments while addressing enduring questions of memory, mobility, and belonging.

Through her webshop, SHOP AFSANEH, she extends the accessibility and circulation of her work, engaging directly with collectors and audiences while emphasizing the interrelation between art, public engagement, and dissemination.

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 2024 – Resilience Rebels, Museum Helmond

• 2023 – Stimuleringsfonds Presents: The Rest Is Still Unwritten, Dutch Design Week 

• 2023 – The Power of Encounter, Amsterdam Museum

• 2023 – Qoqnoos – You Can't Burn a Woman Made of Fire, Melkweg Expo
  

Ghafarian Rabe’I’s work is positioned at the intersection of contemporary photographic research, socio-political inquiry, and diasporic narrative. Her practice addresses urban youth, gender, and social transformation, offering both intimate and socially engaged perspectives.

By documenting ephemeral realities while reflecting on historical, cultural, and political contexts, her work situates personal narratives within international contemporary art discourse, contributing to broader conversations around identity, mobility, and visual culture in the 21st century.