Afghan animator Freshta Safi is the new ICORN resident in Drøbak
Freshta Safi is an animator, visual artist, and photojournalist from Afghanistan. As a Hazara woman and an artist, Safi faced threats, harassment, and persecution. Since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021, Safi has been unable to work. In February 2025, she arrived in Norway to begin a two-year ICORN residency in Drøbak where she can continue her work.
Freshta Safi holds a BA in Graphic Design and an MA in Visual Arts, both from Kabul University. She began her animation career in 2015 with her film ‘Don’t Judge Me’, supported by the Afghan Film Institute and the Goethe Institute. The animation was screened at the Swedish Film Festival in Kabul and at the Herat Women’s Festival, both in 2016. Another early work, ‘Sparrow Ponba Dana’, followed in 2017.
In 2017, Safi completed a one-year training course, part of the ‘Women in Government’ and ‘Women in Leadership’ programmes, organised by USAID. During this time, Safi contributed to projects at the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Culture and attended workshops on women’s role in the economy and graphic design.
From November 2018 to August 2019, Safi worked as an animator with the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan. Some of her works from this period were later exhibited at the French Institute in Kabul (2020) and the Louvre Museum (2021).
As a trained photojournalist through the Tassawi Institute’s programme, Safi worked as a photojournalist for the Afghan Ministry of Urban Development and Land, from 2019 until the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
Safi also worked a senior animator on the film ‘Pir Yakhsooz’, leading a team of eight women. Additionally, she created paintings and wooden sculptures exhibited at Kabul University and was began writing a book, which was cut short by the Taliban’s return to power.
Freshta Safi continues her work from Norway.
Drøbak ICORN City of Refuge
Drøbak joined ICORN in 2010 and became the world’s first City of Refuge for persecuted cartoonists. Drøbak has hosted six cartoonists and artists in ICORN residence, including Freshta Safi, Nadia Hossaini, Mohsen Hossaini, Fadi Abou Hassan, and Arifur Rahman.
The ICORN programme in Drøbak is coordinated in cooperation between the municipality and The Norwegian Cartoonist Gallery (Avistegnernes Hus), which exhibits political cartoons, comics, and illustrative art.
