SEJLA KAMERIC
1976 - Born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
1994/1997 - Worked as part of TRIO SARAJEVO
1999 - Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo
I like Sejla Kameric mainly for her sense of humor. Her work is always
aimed at problems in society but she makes fun of them in a strange way.
My favorite example is the simple, but incredibly powerful display she
made simply by re-arranging policial posters. She changed nothing about
the posters, simply half-covered up one with another and created an
entirely new message.
This was the billboard originally. The Croatian party poster on the
left reads "Choice or extermination", the Bosniak poster on the right
reads "Vote for your own people".
http://slibe.com">
This one reads "Extermination or Extermination", and "Vote for your own
people" - though the faces are covered, posing the question: Who's
people are you anyway?
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This one, as well, is very simple but
very beautiful. She took down the "Closed for reconstruction" sign from
the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina and put up instead a
sign reading "Zauzeto", or occupied. Photographs placed in the windows
showed artists busy working and it made the entire reconstruction
process feel like a live exhibition in itself.
http://slibe.com">
Lastly, one of her video works. This video stars Sejla herself in a
public service announcement, which runs backwards - a symbol of Bosnia
and Herzegovina, for a time, was running backwards.
http://www.sejlakameric.com/video/video/daydreaming.mov">