Biography
Life illustrated by an abstract diary
An artist from an early age, throughout her life she was guided by an unyielding and challenging fate. Despite these challenges, she always looked on the bright side, dancing in her bright and positive spirit.
At the age of 14, she enrolled in a secondary art school in Sarajevo, which was violently interrupted by the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She immigrated to Germany, where she stayed for 5 years continuing her education while trying to remain true to herself as a refugee. She decided to return to Sarajevo because she did not want to give up on her dream, and there she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of the
University of Sarajevo with a degree in graphic design. Until 2009, she was active as a multimedia artist and, with her colleagues, tried to raise the art scene to a higher level. She participated in many collective exhibitions as well as creating several independent ones.
The question of existence dragged her into the corporate world, where she stayed for 11 years working as the chief designer for the largest company in Bosnia and Herzegovina, JP Elektroprivreda BiH. During that period, she also became a mother.
Fate takes her to a new world again in 2019, and she decides to devote the third beginning of her life to painting and multimedia art. She sees that it is not at all easy to start over again, and while her cheerful, optimistic spirit combined with the support of her family helps her the most, the struggle is everyday. She discovers strength and inspiration in her heritage and all that she carries with her throughout her life as an artist, a woman and as an eternal migrant.
She forms her return to the visualization of life with symbols and lines using words with the same meaning in different languages. She experiments with the ancient script of her homeland “Bosančica” and combines it with the constructs of other languages. Blending these images with the cultural forms of women and their heritage, Merima is able to create a unique visual vocabulary that speaks of the multiculturalism of the modern world.
As a passionate visual artist, she expresses her love for symbols, words and languages, but also her great desire to “dance” to convey her emotions. Through her works, Merima’s emotions become visually expressive – an aesthetic blend of old and new that serves as a powerful reminder of our multifaceted identities.
“To all appearances, the artist acts like a mediumistic being who, from the labyrinth beyond time and space, seeks his way out to a clearing.” ― Marcel Duchamp
