Thissen is working on an extensive visual research project titled Watch it Collapse. The project explores the stagnation in the safety and emancipation of transgender individuals. This four-year research focuses on transgender and queer visibility, with a particular emphasis on the dystopian political climate of our time. After all, transgender and queer visibility does not exist in a vacuum; it is inherently intersectional.

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The first chapter of this research, titled "Old Money Never Dies" (2023), focuses specifically on the issues surrounding the queer influencer and their power dynamics within capitalist systems. Thissen is currently working on the second chapter, titled "Bones of Graphene, Skin of Kevlar" (2024-ongoing). The project began with archival and visual research in New York in early 2024, centering on historical transgender resilience, STAR, and protests in NYC during the 1960s and 1970s. The primary focus is to visualize the impact of rising global far-right politics and sentiments, contrasted with the enduring resilience and fighting spirit of trans individuals across generations.“With this work, my goal is to create strong contemporary transgender figures and symbolic still lifes that channel the ancestral power of our queer elders to push back against the dangers of our time. I want to capture and translate the tensions and threats we are facing. In a time marked by fear-mongering, media manipulation, attacks and bans on gender-affirming healthcare, and an increasing detachment from factual reality, it is vital to develop strategies for staying safe and resilient, without losing the ability to remain soft and true to who we are.”

On December 12, 1935, a program was started in Germany to provide the Third Reich with the new generation of leaders and SS officers; Lebensborn (“Source of Life”). The birth rates had dropped dramatically and something had to be done to prevent abortion. In several clinics spread over Germany, Norway, Belgium, France and Poland, (married and unmarried) women, if they met the requirements of the Aryan race, could give birth to their children. Outside of Germany it was mainly the case that German soldiers had relationships with local women. SS-officers were encouraged to reproduce as much as possible, including out of wedlock. The architect behind this plan, Heinrich Himmler, aimed to improve the ‘racial quality’ in the new empire to be built on a National Socialist basis with these blue-eyed, blond-haired and light-skinned children. When it turned out that this program did not bring enough new Aryan souls, children with blonde hair and blue eyes were kidnapped from Eastern Europe and taken to German homes to ‘Germanise’. After the war, the children from these homes and families were often stigmatised and sometimes even mistreated or sexually abused. Many grew up with secrets, the past should not be talked about. The Lebensborn homes were thought to be brothels or ‘stud farms’ for SS men, as quite some (B)movies implied. None of these stories were true. The purpose of Lebensborn is so unreal and horrific that it should never be forgotten. In view of our society that increasingly flirts with nationalism, it is important to document and tell these stories from the past. It is the ultimate example of a skewed sense of superiority. For the project Angeniet Berkers tracked down these 'children' who are now in their 70s and 80s to interview and portray them. She did archival research and photographed relevant objects and documents such as birth certificates, to visualise the system that was behind the program. Berkers also visited former Lebensborn homes and photographed both the buildings and the surrounding landscape. Although these locations now have a different function, they remain silent witnesses to an eventful past.

Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, large groups of Iranians left the country in pursuit of a different life. The self-imposed exile of Iranians created a new pattern for their families. In the absence of comprehensive social security to support the elderly, in a culture where it is common for young adults to remain at home till their late thirties, many parents found the absence of their children difficult to deal with. It hasn’t been easy for the exiled generation either; not shouldering your filial obligations; instead, living in different time zones, and trying to provide support for the elderly means worrying every day about unforeseen situations. “In 2012, during one of my regular trips from the Netherlands (where I live) to my homeland, Tehran, Iran, I started taking pictures of my mother’s daily life, and this became our routine; whenever we were together, either in Tehran or elsewhere, visiting my siblings. She became my muse. As if I wanted to capture her for myself, for the time she was not with me, when I was back on my solitude in the Netherlands and she was staying alone in Tehran. A few years later, after printing the images, I sensed an urge to use black and white paint on each photo. It was as if every image offered the possibility of becoming a living moment capable of becoming a three dimensional setting for the world I was trying to create. Photographing her and spending time on each photo had a therapeutic effect on me. I realised that by going through this process I was eventually spending more time with her.” The result is a hybrid of photography and painting, giving a surreal sense to the imagery. “On a winter morning in 2022, I received a phone call from Tehran, informing me that my mother had been in a car accident. I can't recall the moments that followed... but somehow I managed to get on a plane in order to land in Tehran some 10 hours after that phone call. My mother didn’t survive the accident; she passed away a few weeks later, leaving us in an immense agony. Analog Photography, 35mm film, black and white acrylic on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper Supreme. This series is being reimagined as a book; How the Nights Can Fly.

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) colonised Sri Lanka between 1658 and 1796. In their efforts to secure a monopoly on the cinnamon trade they transformed the landscape and culture of Sri Lanka, leaving traces visible today. Cinnamon is a spice of stories about competing empires, bloody battles, forced labour, land appropriation, and resilience. Upon entering Western recipes, cinnamon appears to have been wiped clean of its brutal past with most unaware of the fraught colonial history of this once highly sought-after spice.I use the historical importance of cinnamon as a point of departure, to generate a critical dialogue that unpacks some of the forgotten stories and violent histories from this period. ‘To taste a bittersweet history’ is a research-based project looks at the atypical heritage of the Dutch VOC’s colonisation of Sri Lanka in the 17th century and explores how visual media can be used to address colonial legacies, as well as the wider cultural relationships between the Netherlands and Sri Lanka. The project uses photography, archival material, collages, video, and printmaking to reclaim and subvert colonial narratives by suggesting alternate ways of looking at a shared history. This project is both personal and political and asks important questions about how we can make space for alternative narratives and methods of storytelling – ones that are inclusive and representational in order to interrogate how histories are understood, engaged with and remembered.

"In Search of Perfect Orange" is the overarching project for which Benjamin since 2014 visited over 1.200 Chinese-Indonesian restaurants across the Netherlands in an endeavour to build an archive of this restaurant. During these visits he has collected menus, pieces of tableware and written memories of his encounters. Importantly, he has also taken photographs of over 250 unique Chinese-Indonesian dishes at these restaurants. Throughout the years Benjamin also traced back and collected many sugar packs, postcards, beer glasses and other objects all linked to (defunct) Chinese-Indonesian restaurants. The extensive archive consists of thousands of objects that forms the basis for the creation of new works of art ranging from 1000-piece puzzle works, video, sculpture and print. Benjamin also creates several daily products for people to use at home, example printed mugs, and calendars. In 2022 Benjamin founded the Billy Li Bar, an artist bar named after IKEA’s famous Billy bookshelves. The bar functions as an informal meeting point where art and food come together. In 2024 Benjamin self-published "Chin. Ind. Rest. Stickeralbum", a direct outcome of his 10 years of travel along the Chinese-Indonesian restaurants. The publication is a homage to his family and the Chinese restaurant community and celebrates the unique food culture that only exists in the Netherlands. The publication consists of archival photos of Benjamin’s parents and family in their former restaurants and old photos of beautifully carved figures and flowers from carrots. On top of these vibrant photos Benjamin invites you to stick a total of 88 stickers of Chinese dishes he photographed during his travels in the Netherlands. This interactive element is placed next to an extensive essay about the history and position of the Chinese-Indonesian restaurants in Dutch culinary landscape, the journey of his family from Hong Kong to the Netherlands and his thoughts and observations during his visits to the Chinese-Indonesian restaurants. He also responds to stereotypical and (at times) racial events that the Chinese (overseas) community(ies) often face. Benjamin foresees that the archive of In Search of Perfect Orange keeps functioning as an inspiration for new works and daily products that fosters a reappraisal of the beauty and heritage of the Chinese-Indonesian restaurant. In itself In Search of Perfect Orange embodies Benjamin search as a bi-cultural person and artist in the Netherlands and the art world.