ON SELFHOOD, MEMORY, AND … LAUGHTER

Over the past 25 years, Šejla Kamerić (b. Sarajevo 1976; lives and works in Sarajevo, Berlin, and Istria) has produced a remarkable number of art works based on the self-presentational gestures. They reveal Kamerić’s enduring allegiance to the subject of self-portraiture and her unconventional comprehension of this self-referential practice.

Mother is a Bitch brings together texts and images that reflect on Kamerić’s multifaceted practice following two main lines within her body of work: self-portraits and textile works. These artworks are based on Kamerić’s own experiences, memories and dreams and take us to global spaces of displacement and discrimination. They are viewed through the lenses of gender, labor, migration, class, and care, imbued with interweaving temporalities—past and present.

Inspired by Hélène Cixous’ écriture feminine or “women’s writing”—a theory of feminist philosophy that combines elements of psychoanalysis, literary theory, and deconstructivism, the authors of the publication consider acts of writing as a subversion of patriarchal orders. The commissioned texts are juxtaposed with one another and with reproductions of Kamerić’s works, negotiating themes such as witchcraft, feminism, self-reflection, self-exploration, and self-exploitation. With contributions by Milica Bezmarević, Hana Ćurak, Iskra Geshoska, Jana Kocevska, Edi Muka, Natalija Paunić, Linda Peitz, Bojana Pejić, Mathilde Sandlarz, Milica Trakilović, Adriana Tranca and Jasmina Tumbas, edited by Živa Kleindienst.

Published in 2023.
Realized by Kontrapunkt in partnership with Kontakt. The Art Collection of Erste Group and ERSTE Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art of Montenegro, Tiiiit! Inc.
Published by Distanz.