
Selma Selman
Selma Selman (b. 1991) is from Bosnia and Herzegovina and of Roma origin. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2014 from the Department of Painting at the University of Banja Luka. In 2018, she graduated from Syracuse University with a Master of Fine Arts in Transmedia, Visual, and Performing Arts.
In her practice, Selman strives to protect and enable female bodies and foster a multifaceted approach to the collective self–emancipation of oppressed women. Selman’s search for a pragmatic, contemporary form of political resistance stems from her own experiences of oppression of varied directions and scales. Selman is also the founder of the organization Get The Heck To School, which aims to empower Roma girls across the globe who face social ostracization and poverty.
Collections: Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart; Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin; Novembar Gallery, Belgrade; agnès b. Galerie Boutique, Paris; Museum Ostwall, Dortmund; Horsecross Arts Collection of Contemporary Art at Threshold Artspace, Perth, Scotland; Museum of Contemporary Art of Srpska, Banja Luka.
Education
2015 – 2018
Master of Fine Arts, Syracuse University, Syracuse
2014 – 2015
Central European University, Budapest
2010 – 2014
Bachelor of Arts, Academy of Arts of the University of Banja Luka
2013
Class led by Tania Bruguera, International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, Salzburg
Fellowships and Residencies
2024 – 2025
Allianz Foundation, Berlin
2021 – 2023
Rijksakademie, Amsterdam
2020 – 2021
Onassis AiR Emergency Fellow, Onassis Foundation, Athens
2019
KulturKontakt Austria, OeAD, Vienna
2018
Artreach India, Patna
2017
Donumenta, Danube Art Lab, Regensburg
2016
Bauhaus Goes Southeast Europe, Bauhaus Universität Weimar, Sarajevo
2015
International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), Brooklyn
Prizes and Shortlists
2024
ABN AMRO Art Award, Amsterdam
2022
Bildrecht SOLO Award, viennacontemporary, Vienna
2019
Power of Excellence Award, Association of Business Women in BiH and Magazine Grazia, Sarajevo
White Aphroid Award for Artistic Achievement, Maribor
Jury Award for Best Short Film, 60 Seconds Festival, Copenhagen
2017
Young European Artist Award, Trieste Contemporanea, Trieste
2014
Zvono Award, Sarajevo
Selected Solo Shows and Performances
2025
Sleeping Guards, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Ophelia’s Awakening, ABN AMRO Art Space, Amsterdam
Letters to Omer, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich
Solo show, Kunsthuis SYB, Beetsterzwaag
Solo show, Travesia Cuatro, Ciudad de México
2024
Through The Flame, Moravská Galerie, Brno
Until We Are Worth More Than Gold: A Triptych, European Capital of Culture Bad Ischl Salzkammergut 2024, Bad Ischl
Ophelia’s Awakening, ChertLüdde, Berlin
Flowers of Life, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt
Dear Omer / No Space, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
The 600 Years of Migrating Mothers, Part 1, KRASS Kultur Crash Festival, Hamburg
Crossing the Blue Bridge, Röda Sten Konsthall, Göteborg
2023
her0, Gropius Bau, Berlin
Rijksakademie Open Studios, Rijksakademie, Amsterdam
Motherboards, KRASS Kultur Crash Festival, Hamburg
No Space, Fries Museum, Leeuwarden
2022
Antifragile Body, Tanzfabrik, Berlin
I Had to Leave to Be Back Here, Manifold Books, Amsterdam
Viva La Vida, Centrale Fies, Dro
The Most Dangerous Woman in the World, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Innsbruck
Presidential Speech: Until We Are Worth More Than Gold, documenta fifteen, Kassel
You Have No Idea, Manifesta 14, Prishtina
Poetry Without Fragility, MO Museum, Vilnius
Rijksakademie Open Studios, Rijksakademie, Amsterdam
2021
Don’t Look Into My Eyes, Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel
Selma Selman, National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo
2020
No Space, Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje; Youth Center, Skopje
2019
Mercedes Matrix, KRASS Kultur Crash Festival, Hamburg
Evropa Boss Light, Poola Gallery, Pula
2018
Viva La Vida, Novembar Gallery, Belgrade
I Will Buy My Freedom When, acb Galéria, Budapest
I Will Buy My Freedom When, Studio Tommaseo, Trieste
I Will Buy My Freedom When, Syracuse University Art Museum, Syracuse
2017
AEG Vampyr 1400, acb Galéria, Budapest
You Have No Idea, agnès b. Galerie Boutique, New York
2016
I Exist, Galerie Schleifmühlgasse 12-14, Vienna
I Exist, Dreamland, Buffalo
You Have No Idea, 7a*11D International Performance Art Festival, Toronto
You Have No Idea, Mikser Festival, Belgrade
2015
You Have No Idea, EPEKA Gallery, Maribor
Body In Danger, Dreamland, Buffalo
Selected Group Shows, Festivals and Screenings
2025
The Gatherers, MoMA PS1, New York
Freeing the Voices, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz
Every Day: Feminist Struggles in Post-Socialist Europe, HAU – Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin
States of Uncertain Domesticities, Haus Kunst Mitte, Berlin
Driving, Dreaming Drifting, CURRENT, Stuttgart
Care and Healing, Vaska Emanuilova Gallery, Sofia
Useful Work versus Useless Toil, ENCOOORE, Biarritz
Useful Work versus Useless Toil, Podium, Oslo
transfeminisms Chapter V: Hidden Labours, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale
2024
transfeminisms Chapter V: Hidden Labours, Mimosa House, London
The Museum Between The Square And The Palace, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Warsaw
24/7: Work between meaning and imbalance, Kunsthalle Graz, Graz
Greenlight Triennial 2024: The Curse of an Unstoppable Appetite, Spriten Kunsthall, Skien
BredaPhoto Festival 2024: Journeys, Carré Chassé, Breda
EVROVIZION. CROSSING TBILISI, ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen with Goethe-Institut Georgia and Tbilisi Photography, Multimedia Museum, Tbilisi
2023
No Dancing Allowed / 2, Garage Rotterdam, Rotterdam
Eine Sammlung für Das 21. Jahrhundert, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin
Theaterfestival Boulevard, ’s-Hertogenbosch
Autostrada Biennale, Prizren
Lo Davamo Per Scontato, Palazzo Ducale, Genova
Unruly Kinships, Temporary Gallery, Köln
WEAK.END.OPERA. Shedhalle, Zürich
Invisible Until It’s Broken, Künstlerhaus Dortmund, Dortmund
I Wish It Was Mine, Galleria Alberta Pane, Venice
Displaced. Detained. Undeterred: A Creative/Critical Symposium, Cornell University, Ithaca
2022
documenta fifteen, Kassel
Manifesta 14, Prishtina
Empowerment, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg
Emplotment, Ludwig Muzéum, Budapest
Theaterfestival Boulevard, ’s-Hertogenbosch
Urban Text. Cet Espace Nommé Balkan, Institute des Cultures d’Islam, Paris
Mesto Žensk – City of Women, 28th International Festival of Contemporary Arts, Ljubljana
The Weight of Being, Week of Contemporary Art, Plovdiv
2021
Mediterranean — School of Waters, Young Artists Biennale, San Marino
Not Definitely Lost to Each Other, 41. Splitski Salon, Split
2020
Futuroma, Villa Romana, Florence
“…Of Bread, Wine, Cars, Security and Peace”, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
Corneus Stories, Skuc Gallery, Ljubljana
From What Will We Reassemble Ourselves, Framer Framed, Amsterdam
Measured Confluence, Dowd Gallery, Cortland
Sarajevo Film Festival, Sarajevo
Mesto Žensk – City of Women, 26th International Festival of Contemporary Arts, Ljubljana
2019
Futuroma, 58th Venice Biennale, Fondamenta Zattere Allo Spirito Santo, Venice
Briser Le 4e Mur, L’Onde Théâtre — Centre d’Art Vélizy–Villacoublay
We Women* Are Going to Insist on Fighting for Our Rights, Guerilla of Enlightenment 3, rotor Centre for Contemporary Art, Graz
We Women* Are Going to Insist on Fighting for Our Rights, Guerilla of Enlightenment 3, Queens Museum, New York
We Women* Are Going to Insist on Fighting for Our Rights, Guerilla of Enlightenment 3, The Creative Time Summit, Miami
2018
In Der Kubatur Des Kabinetts, fluc, Vienna
Her New East, Galzenica Gallery, Zagreb
Pin Me Up — Turn Me Around, Galerie Michaela Stock, Vienna
Gypsyism Balkanism — Uniting Peripheries, ERIAC European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture, Berlin
My Art Is My Reality, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka
Personal, KID KIBLA Gallery, Maribor
Industrial Art Biennale, Labin and Rijeka
Cordial Points, Galerie Schleifmühlgasse 12–14, Vienna
Hiding in Plain Sight: MFA Thesis Exhibition, ArtHelix, New York
Proof of Existence: An Exhibit of Works by Contemporary Artists of Bosnian and Balkan Origin, University Gallery, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green
2017
Berliner Herbstsalon, Maxim Gorki Theater / Palais am Festungsgraben / Kronprinzenpalais, Berlin
As Far As I Can Go – radical movements, Galerie Michaela Stock, Vienna
Identification – Field Exercises After Katalin Ladik, acb Galéria, Budapest
Horsecross Collection of Contemporary Art, Threshold Artspace, Perth, Scotland
Modernity — Love, Hated or Ignored, Luxembourg City Film Festival, Luxembourg
2016
Contemporary Thesaurus, Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina, Novi Sad
Contemporary Thesaurus, Museum of Contemporary Art of Republika Srpska, Banja Luka
The Works Art Design Festival, Edmonton, Alberta
Conquer the Beauty, Good Children Gallery, New Orleans
Hero Mother, Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin
D–0 ARK Biennial of Contemporary Art, Sarajevo
2015
Zvono. Exhibition of the Finalists and Winners, Gallery Duplex, Sarajevo
PitchWise Festival, Sarajevo
Workshop III, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
2014
Calling Cards, Gallery8, Budapest
We Want You, 10th Berlin International Directors Lounge, Berlin
Video Art Festival Miden, Kalamata
Selected Publications
2024
“My Dad’s Mercedes”, ii. Martin Sigler, pub. Lampoon Magazine
“Selma Selman Mines Scrap Metal From Her Romani Family’s Body Shop”, ed. Emily McDermott, pub. ARTnews
“Flowers of Life”, ed. Matthias Ulrich, pub. DISTANZ
“Alchemy at work”, ii. Miloš Trakilović, pub. Vogue Adria
2023
Girls Like Us Issue n. 14: Letters of Disappointment, ed. Jessica Gysel, pub. Girls Like Us
“Selma Selman’s Art Is Dirt-Cheap but Worth More Than Gold”, ed. Krzysztof Kościuczuk, pub. Frieze Magazine
“Unholy motors”, ed. Lena van Tijen, pub. Art Basel
“Kin to be imagined”, ed. Joanna Glinkowska, pub. BLOK Magazine
“From the Pissoir to the Bathtub”, pub. European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture e.V.
“She Was Not Supposed To Be Loud”, ii. Giulia Menegale, pub. NERO
2022
“Künstlerin Selma Selman: Mercedes Matrix”, ed. Hanna Thuma, pub. Monopol Magazine
“Potential Value of Scrap Metal”, ed. Arnisa Caterina Zeqo, pub. Mousse
“Sold For Parts: Selma Selman’s Activist Practice”, ed. Hella Wiedmer-Newman, pub. ARTMargins
““I am Jugoslavenka!”: Feminist performance politics during and after Yugoslav Socialism”, ed. Jasmina Tumbas, pub. Manchester University Press
“Kreacija mašte i alhemija modernog doba”, ii. Marko Mrkaja, pub. Harper’s Bazaar Serbia
“They Call Her “Tito””, ii. Brigitte Egger, pub. Komplex
2021
“Selma Selman’s artistic expression empowering Roma women and girls in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, pub. UNESCO
“Selma. Bosna. Umjetnost.”, ed. Gilda-Nancy Horvath, pub. Deutsche Welle
“Selma Selman je primjer da možemo postići sve što zamislimo”, ed. Dalila Vojniković pub. Federacija danas
“Odrazi univerzalnih tema”, pub. Vizkultura
2020
“You get shot in the head”, pub. Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen
“Tito’s bunker, Mercedes, Washing Machine and Vampyr”, ed. Paul Rajakovics, Barbara Holub, pub. dérive
“Politička umjetnost je danas jako bitna”, ed. Elma Ljubčić, pub. Al Jazeera Balkans
“Selma Selman is the Bosnian artist breaking down cars, washing machines, and the patriarchy”, ed. Jelena Prtoric, pub. New East Digital Archive
2019
eep Vol. 1 Magazine, ed. Maya Hristova, pub. EEP Berlin
This is Badland Issue n. 3: Larger Than Life, ed. Rafaela Kaćunić, Nina Vukelić, pub. Badland Magazine