Lamija Čehajić
– b. 1997 in Prague. Lamija is an intermedia artist based between Prague and Sarajevo. She graduated from the Faculty of Humanities of Charles University and the Academy of Fine Art in Prague where she completed her MA in the Intermedia III studio (Studio of Conceptual Exploration). Caught between practice and theory, she is working with a variety of media, from video and photography to text and textile, and her practice is a slow labour of degrowth. She is the first laureate of the Vojo Dimitrijević award for young fine art in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is currently working at the Vice-Rectorate for Art and Research of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague as well as a free-lance curator, and translator for art institutions in Prague.
In my slow artistic practice, I rely on the the ability of artistic works to emerge as situated outputs of long-term reflection and gradual, transmuting continuity.
My interests flow through periods and cycles, retrograde trajectories, yet they invariably converge upon questions of embodiment—both human and more-than-human. My artistic practice, in all its dimensions—the visible forms it assumes and the unseen gestures that sustain its becoming— is imbued with the paradigms of contemporary feminist theories1. These frameworks serve as the lens through which I begin to inquire into the nature and hierarchy of knowledge, as well as the tensions between fact, fiction, and ideology2.
In this vein, I am drawn to the ways we can—and do—articulate the principles of ecology, the interrelations of human bodies, sociopolitical systems, historical narratives, and all that converges within the vast hyperobject we call nature. The generative ambivalence of artistic practice, its capacity to let knowledge flow fluidly between more rigidly defined disciplines, is for me an endless source of intrigue, play, and liberation3.
I am fascinated by the ability of artistic approaches to gather disparate particles that incite inquiry, as well as its potential to carve out spaces for new imaginaries and subtle subversions of dominant thought structures4. One such subversion emerges in the reprocessing of history through new (artistic) interpretive tools5.
Equally, I am captivated by the intentions that are possible through artistic practices to conjure new futures, fostering solidarities both human and interspecies6.
Through the exploration and cultivation of imagination—by tracing unexpected causalities and contextual entanglements—I seek to weave new sensibilities toward the phenomenon of the world, both visible and invisible.
In engaging with the unclear, the absurd, and the inexplicable, there lies a latent potential—a chance to unearth unknown possibilities for collective transformation.
The text was written in consultancy with Adna Muslija (2025).
1Lamija Čehajić, Still from Growing Lungs, video 16 min, 2024.
2Lamija Čehajić, methodologies of care ii, cobblestone intervention, Kasárna Karlín, Prague, 2019.
3Lamija Čehajić, too small to become a lake ~ too large to be swallowed by the earth, cyanotype series on canvas, Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, 2023. Photo: Michael Lozano
4Lamija Čehajić,Still from too small to become a lake ~ too large to be swallowed by the earth, video, 16 min, Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, 2023.
5Lamija Čehajić, Performative reading to strangling fig treas, Palermo, Sicily, 2019.
6Lamija Čehajić, Still from Growing Lungs, video 16 min, 2024.
– r. 1997. u Pragu. Lamija je intermedijalna umjetnica koja živi i stvara između Praga i Sarajeva. Diplomirala je na Fakultetu humanističkih nauka Karlovog univerziteta i na Akademiji likovnih umjetnosti u Pragu u ateljeu Intermedialne umjetnosti III (Atelje konceptualnog istraživanja). Istovremeno uronjena u praksu i teoriju, istražuje različite medije – od videa i fotografije do teksta i tekstila – gradeći svoju umjetničku praksu kroz principe odrasta. Prva je laureatkinja nagrade Vojo Dimitrijević za mladu likovnu umjetnost u Bosni i Hercegovini. Trenutno radi na Prorektoratu za umjetnost i istraživanje na Akademiji likovnih umjetnosti u Pragu, te djeluje i kao nezavisna kustosica i prevoditeljica na kulturnoj sceni u Pragu.
U svojoj sporoj umjetničkoj praksi se oslanjam o činjenicu da umjetnička djela isplivavaju kao situirani plodovi dugoročnog premišljanja i postepenog tranmutirajućeg kontinuiteta.
Moja interesovanja prolaze kroz periôde i cikluse, retrogradne putanje, ali često se vraćaju ka pitanjima utjeljovljenja – ljudskog i više-od-ljudskog. Sav moj umjetnički rad — uključujući rad kao stvaralački proces, te rad kao sekvencije nevidljivih aktivnosti koje sam umjetnički rad omogućavaju — prožet je paradigmama savremenih feminističkih teorija1. Upravo one su leća, kroz koju počinjem da propitujem prirodu i hijerarhizaciju znanja, kao i tenzije izmedju fakta, fikcije i ideologije2.
Duž te linije, zanimam se za načine putem kojih možemo i umijemo artikulirati principe ekologije, odnose između ljudskih tijela, sociopolitičke sisteme, historijske narative i sve ono što spada u taj hiperobjekat koji nazivamo prirodom. Zanimljiva, zabavna i oslabadjajuća mi je ambivalentnost koju pruža umjetnička praksa, dopuštajući novim formama saznanja da protiču izmađu raznih, više egzaktnih disciplina3.
Fascinira me sposobnost umjetnosti da skuplja čestice koje podstiču pitanja, koliko i njen potencijal da otvori prilike za nove imaginacije i suptilne subverzije dominantnih načina razmišljanja4 Jednu takvu subverziju prepoznajem u procesuiranju historiju(e) kroz nove (umjetničke) interpretacijske alatke5.
Zaokuplja me i moć umjetnosti koja omogućava zamišljanja novih budućnosti, međuljudske i međuvrsne solidarnosti6.
Kroz istraživanje i razvijanje imaginacije neočekivanih kauzalnih i kontekstualnih veza, želim stvarati fabule novih sensibilnosti prema fenomenu svijeta, vidljivog i nevidljivog.
U bistvovanju sa nejasnim, apsurdnim i neobjašnjivim, prilika je za otkrivanje nepoznatih potencijala kolektivne transformacije.
Tekst je napisan u konsultaciji s Adnom Muslija (2025).
1Lamija Čehajić, Kadar iz Pluća u razvoju, video, 16 min, 2024
2Lamija Čehajić, methodologies of care ii, intervencija sa granitnim kockama, Kasárna Karlín, Prag, 2019.
3Lamija Čehajić, too small to become a lake ~ too large to be swallowed by the earth, serija cijanotipije na platnu, Akademija likovnih umjetnosti u Pragu, 2023. Fotografija: Michael Lozano
4Lamija Čehajić, Kadar iz too small to become a lake ~ too large to be swallowed by the earth, video, 16 min, Akademija likovnih umjetnosti u Pragu, 2023.
5Lamija Čehajić, Performativno čitanje za stabla fikusa, Palermo, Sicilija, 2019.
6Lamija Čehajić, Kadar iz Pluća u razvoju, video, 16 min, 2024.
