Selma Selman

The National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina is proud to announce the solo exhibition by Selma Selman, curated by Amila Ramović. 

Taking place from July 23 to September 1, 2021, this will be the first major survey of Selman’s work in Bosnia and Herzegovina, covering her performances, video pieces, paintings and large-scale installations.

Selma Selman was born in 1991 in the Roma community village of Ružica in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After studying painting at the Fine Arts Academy in Banja Luka, she completed her MFA in Transmedia Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University, New York. She has exhibited extensively across Europe and the US and her work is included in numerous international collections. She took part in the FutuRoma Pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale. In 2021, she was awarded the Rijksakademie residency in Amsterdam. 

After Sarajevo, Selman is opening her solo exhibition at the Fridericianum with Kassler Kunstverein. The foundation “Get the Heck to School” she set up is dedicated to empowering Roma girls through visual arts by providing scholarships for their education. 

Working across media, Selma Selman’s oeuvre reflects the complexities of her identity as the permanent “Other,” being a Roma, an immigrant, and a woman. The series of works exhibited at the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina is particularly inspired by the labor of the Roma community, including her own family. Selman’s artistic process echoes the older tradition of a polymath artist ethically synthesizing technological and ecological tools to resolve the conflicts typical for social engagement. Repeatedly evoking the motif of scrap metal collection and recycling, Selman invites us to question the ways in which we assign value to objects, labor, and human beings.