Selma Selman: The Art of Transformation

A Multifaceted Artistic Practice

When describing her wide-ranging art practice, Selma Selman states, “I’m a transformer.” At 33, her work spans painting, performance, installation, and film, all centered on transformation—whether of materials, societal concepts, or cultural symbols, sometimes intertwining these elements.

Roots and Influences

Selman was born in Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and has Romani roots. She divides her time among her hometown, Amsterdam, New York, and Washington, D.C. Her personal history deeply influences her art, often incorporating family narratives. She frequently utilizes scrap metal in her work, a nod to her family's scrapyard business and her upbringing, collecting and selling scrap metal with her father and brothers. Her recent initiative involved devising an eco-friendly method of extracting gold from motherboards. In her ongoing performance series called Motherboards (2023–ongoing), she collaborates with her father and brothers in demonstrating this gold extraction to live audiences. One such performance in Hamburg resulted in crafting Motherboards (A Golden Nail), 2023—a gold-coated nail driven into a wall.

Wider Symbolic Dimensions

Selman's art is deeply personal, yet its power also stems from reinterpreting familiar symbols. “I wouldn’t use the word ‘universal,’ but [the works] become planetary," she explained, noting their broad potential for connection and interpretation. Within her art, luxury vehicles transform into scrap metal, electronic waste into gold, and marginalized labor is elevated to a place of prestige.

Exhibitions and Themes

In a solo exhibition at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, running until September 15, Selman showcases her new film, Crossing the Blue Bridge (2024), a site-specific performance touching on her mother’s memories of the Bosnian War. Her “Superpositional Intersectionalism” (2023) drawing series was displayed last year in Berlin’s Gropius Bau and earlier this year at Röda Sten Konsthall, Gothenburg. One drawing, Ophelia’s Awakening, shares its name with a painted Lotus car, both works engaging with Shakespeare’s Ophelia. “I feel a connection to Ophelia,” Selman remarked, relating it to her personal defiance of family expectations. She intends to rewrite Ophelia’s narrative as one of empowerment and resistance.

Engaging with Global Themes

Addressing global intersectional challenges, Selman's work resonates across diverse contexts, always driven by precise transformation. Just as disassembling a car requires care to identify valuable scrap, every aspect of Selman’s art is deliberate: “If I have something to say, I’m going to say it,” she asserted. “If I don’t, I shut the fuck up. I don’t waste my words.”