Selma Selman

Selma Selman focuses her work on protecting and empowering female bodies, aiming for a collective self-emancipation of oppressed women through a cross-scalar approach. Her first exhibition at ChertLüdde, opening during Berlin Art Week, centers on this theme, bringing together new mixed-media paintings on scrap metal. By transforming the gallery into a junkyard of auto parts and unused household appliances, Selman addresses experiences of discrimination, violence, sexism and patriarchy through an autobiographical approach. In this setting, she once again takes on the title of “the most dangerous woman in the world.”

Selma Selman (b. 1991, Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina) graduated in 2014 from the Department of Painting at the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka, and defended her MA at Syracuse University, New York State in 2018 in the field of Transmedia – visual and performing arts. She was also a resident of Rijksakademie from 2021 to 2023.

Her works embody the struggles of her own life as well as her community, and employs a variety of media such as performance, painting, photography and video installations. Selman defines herself as an artist of Roma origins, not a Romani artist, a subtle yet critical distinction in the work. Her pieces are often inspired by her personal history, her family’s lifestyle and the background she comes from, exploring issues of child marriage, women’s role in Roma communities and education. Selman’s aim is to break down the prejudice which keeps pushing down her community to the lowest common denominator, denying its right to self-expression. She utilizes her personal background as a lens through which she can understand the universal human condition and its idiosyncrasies. Selma is the founder of the organization Get The Heck To School whose aim is to encourage and empower Roma girls around the world facing poverty and social exclusion.

Her work is currently exhibited at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin and Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt. She has also participated in exhibitions at: Autostrada Biennale, Prizren (2023), documenta 15, Kassel (2022), Manifesta 14, Prishtina (2022), Kunstraum Innsbruck (2022), MO Museum, Vilnius (2022), Ludwig Museum, Budapest (2022), Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel (2021), National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo (2021), acb Galéria, Budapest (2021), Queens Museum, New York (2019) and Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin (2017).