Igor Karim is a visual anthropologist and filmmaker whose practice navigates the critical intersections of decolonial archiving, indigenous agency, and the legal rights of nature. Currently operating as a Research Associate at the Frobenius Institute (Frankfurt) and the Research Institute for Sustainability (Potsdam), Karim’s work is characterized by a "collaborative restitution" methodology—a process that goes beyond mere repatriation to actively engage indigenous communities in the remixing and re-signification of archival images.

His academic trajectory is rooted in a deep engagement with the political realities of the Global South. Karim began his career in Brazil, working on monitoring and protection policies for isolated indigenous groups at the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI). This early professional experience in the Amazonian context grounded his theoretical work in the concrete struggles for territorial sovereignty and cultural survival.

Transitioning to the European academic context, Karim has focused on dismantling colonial narratives within film archives. His current research includes the DFG-funded project "Reclaiming Narratives," where he utilizes found-footage filmmaking to recontextualize Ethiopian ethnographic collections from the 1950s. Simultaneously, his "Amazon of Rights" project at RIFS Potsdam employs visual ethnography to document youth activism and the emergence of "ecocentric normativity" in Brazil.