Selma Selman
Performance and Multidisciplinary artist of Roma origins
Selma Selman – Bosnian, American, Roma: many people wish to place Selma Selman in one category or another. But the artist’s multi-faceted identity cannot be easily summed up — nor can her creativity be controlled.
Together with my family I performed “Mercedes Matrix” where I use art as a tool for transforming the value of an act of labor and art. In this work, art becomes a tool to question the labor of my family and my labor as an artist. The same acts of labor which are performed are simultaneously executed for my own survival as well as being executed by and for the survival of my family.
The mechanism of these artworks transforms the living reality of my parents and the possible function of art, while fusing the work and reward of laborers and artists. My family transforms metal waste into a valuable resource for survival. Their everyday survival is dependent on this exact same labor, where metal and motor are sold in recycling centers.
