Merima Smajlović is a multidisciplinary artist and graphic designer with a passion for exploring the intersection of visual art, fashion, photography, video, symbols, fonts, and words. A native of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, her contemporary paintings pay tribute to her perception of art as an illustrated diary of life. Her distinctive personal style exudes the courage of love and expresses the vibrant spirit and heritage of Bosnian culture.
Graduating with a degree in graphic design from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, Merima explores women as an omnipresent symbol and creator of all life. She likes to describe herself as an eternal migrant because she feels no boundaries in life or art. After 11 years, she left her job as an independent corporate designer at the largest electricity corporation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and embarked on a new overseas adventure.
Selected Exhibitions and Projects 2024:
Kiss of the Future, Regional Arts Competition 2024 at DeVos Place Convention Center, Grand Rapids, MI
Kiss of the Future, 38th Annual West Michigan Art Competition, Lowell, MI
Mantle of Modernity, 106 Gallery, "Save the Planet, Save the People!!!", curated by Annamarie Buller, Grand Rapids, MI
Invisible Threat, The DAAC, "Let This Radicalize You...", curated by Annamarie Buller, Grand Rapids, MI
Heritage, Collegium Artisticum 2024, Annual exhibition of ULUPUBiH, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Perfect Body and Heritage, Art On Loop, New York
Silence, 106 Gallery, "The World is On Fire" curated by Annamarie Buller, Heather Duffy, and Kailey Smith-Barth, Grand Rapids, MI
Heritage, 106 Gallery, "More Than Our Hearts Can Bear" curated by Annamarie Buller, Grand Rapids, MI
Symbols of the Soul, Solo Exhibition, Ludington Center for the Arts, Ludington, MI
Awards and Recognition:
Honorable Mention for "Kiss of the Future" at the 38th Annual West Michigan Art Competition in 2024.
Her first collective exhibition in the United States, "Celebrating the Sacred Feminine" and "Modes of Abstraction," was held at The Ludington Area Center for the Arts (LACA) in 2023. Her cooperation with LACA continues today, and since July, Merima has been holding abstract and mixed media art workshops.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she participated in online exhibitions including "Love," "Spiritual Journey," "Inconnu," and "Femme to Femme" (2021-22). "Spiritual Journey" was also displayed by ARTSY. "The Symbol of a Woman," an acrylic on copper, was presented by bG Gallery in Santa Monica, CA in 2019.
From 2007 to 2020, Merima served as the Head Designer at Elektroprivreda B&H, the leading electricity supply enterprise in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while also becoming a mother.
In 2009, her artwork was displayed at venues such as The Huizer Museum in the Netherlands and the "Art and Terrorism" exhibition at the City Gallery of Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Merima also participated in “Pitchwise,” a Women's Art Festival, as well as the "United Moves Festival" at KRITERION, Sarajevo (2009).
In 2008, Merima’s artwork was presented in the "One Person" exhibition at Zenica Museum and the "Models of Transformation" exhibition at the Youth Salon, Contemporary Art Gallery Collegium Artisticum, Sarajevo. Following her graduation, she held solo exhibitions organized by Art Atak at the Faculty of Architecture, Sarajevo, OKC Abrašević, Mostar, and the Contemporary Art Gallery Collegium Artisticum, Sarajevo in 2007.
In 2007, she also collaborated with the Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Art Cinema KRITERION, exhibiting several of her movie posters. Her book was included in the "BOOKS" exhibition at the 10m2 Art Gallery, Sarajevo in 2005.
The year 2003 was marked by the "Akruelno" exhibition at the Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2002, she exhibited under the curatorship of Asja Mandić at the annual exhibition "IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY 1992-2002" organized by Sarajevo's ARS AEVI Museum of Contemporary Art.
In 2002, she founded the "AKTUELNO" association with her artist friends as a rebellion against the political and cultural establishment of her homeland and exhibited at the Collegium Artisticum, Contemporary Art Gallery.
With the Pro.Ba production company, she made a short film, "Olimpijsko Selo" ("Olympic Village"), and participated in the 8th Sarajevo Film Festival, SFF Insert program 1 in 2002. Additionally, she presented her work at the Novi Hram Gallery's "Under Pressure" exhibition (2002).
Her promotional video work in cooperation with Pro.Ba, "Street Look" for Fashion Week-Why Not, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was completed in 2001. She also presented her Street Look collection, an independent fashion performance in the form of body painting with L’Oréal at Fashion Week-Why Not, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2001).
Merima has been a member of the Ludington Area Center for the Arts since 2023 and a member of the Women’s City Club of Grand Rapids (WCC) since 2024. She remains a member of the B&H Association of Applied Arts.