Tomáš Rafa (b. 1979, Žilina, Slovakia) — filmmaker, photographer and activist renowned for his work documenting contemporary socio- political phenomena. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Banská Bystrica and the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, he currently runs a video documentary studio at the Faculty of Media Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. His audiovisual works explore extreme situations related to nationalism, racism and xenophobia in Central and Eastern Europe, especially in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. In the spirit of documentary observation, he brings to light and reflects on events and situations that often remain absent from traditional news coverage.

His long-term project New Nationalism in the Heart of Europe has been shown in numerous exhibitions, including the 8th Yokohama Triennale (2024), The New Human at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm (2015), and Respect Existence or Expect Resistance at the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava (2012), as well as in a solo exhibition New Nationalism at MoMA PS1 in New York (2017). In 2011, he received the Oskár Čepan Award, Slovakia’s most prestigious award for artists, in recognition of his work.