Selma Asotić: Madwomen and Their Mothers

Venue: Raum D / Q21
Admission free

A famous black-and-white photograph taken in London in 1960 serves as a starting point for investigating the long-standing myth that writing and creative genius are masculine prerogatives.
The main purpose of the lecture is to explore how literary history and literary canons erase the lives and voices of women, suppress the creation of an artistic matrlineage and systematically divest women of agency and creative power.
The session will focus on women’s attempts to subvert the existing power dynamics, recover their lost female ancestors and reclaim their anger. Although it uses examples from different literary traditions, the lecture will specifically focus on modern-day Balkans and the establishment of new feminist platforms in the region - such as the magazine for feminist theory and art BONA - that hope to become sites of a new kind of literary community, one that is based on solidarity instead of oppression.

Biography:
Selma Asotić lives in Sarajevo, where she’s trying to write poetry. In between writing poems, she works as a freelance translator and an EFL teacher. Her poems, essays, and translations have appeared in local and international literary journals. She is the co-founder and co-editor of the magazine for feminist theory and art <link http: bonamag.ba _blank external-link-new-window externen link in neuem>BONA - currently the only feminist magazine in BiH. She is a member of Sarajevo Writers’ Workshop.
Selma Asotić was invited by BMEIA as Q21 Writer-in-Residence in January 2018.

<link http: www.q21.at artists-in-residence artists artistinfo selma-asotic>www.q21.at/artists-in-residence/artists/artistinfo/selma-asotic/