Šejla Kamerić

Bosnian Girl

2003

  • Šejla Kamerić, Bosnian Girl, 2003

    B&W photography, inkjet prtint on Alu Dibond

    170 x 120 cm

Bosnian Girl was originally planned as a series of posters for public areas. It captivated viewers with its brutal directness and the disturbing ambivalence of the image, the portrait of a woman looking at us front-on, as customary in fashion photography. Smeared on the woman's t-shirt: 'No teeth…? A mustache…? Smell like shit…? Bosnian Girl!'

The subject is the artist herself. The discriminatory phrases come from a piece of graffiti written by a Dutch soldier on the wall of the barracks in Potočari, Srebrenica in 1994/95. The superposition of the two narratives recalls attention to the massacre of Srebrenica in 1995 which could not and was not prevented despite the Dutch Army’s presence as representatives of NATO.

We use cookies to offer you an optimal website experience. These are small text files that are stored on your computer. This includes cookies for the operation and optimization of the site as well as for optional services. Further information on data processing can be found in our data protection information.