Nihad Nino Pušija is a photographer now based in Berlin. Born in Sarajevo, Bosnia, in 1965, he studied journalism at the city’s university. Subsequently he worked as a trainee photojournalist and photo illustrator for the Bosnian independent daily newspaper Oslobodjenje in Sarajevo. Before moving to Berlin in 1992, he worked on photo projects and studied in England, Belgium, Italy and the United States. In 1994 he was at the helm for the project ‘Zyklop foto fabrik’ (Cyclops Photo Factory) in Germany, which involved a group of young artists who were forced to abandon their studies because of the Yugoslavian war. In the project, which was supported by Kunstamt Kreuzberg and NGBK (New Society of Fine Art), they explored the themes of Bosnia, refugees, conflict resolution, integration and Roma in Europe. Pušija attended Marina Abramović’s classes at the Academy of Arts in Braunschweig in 2001, and exhibited in Paradise Lost, the 1st Roma Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2007.

He chose to live and work in Berlin because he found there was no other metropolis in the world in which two divided halves were trying to grow back together. Trying to capture both the division and merging of the Eastern and Western Blocs, he explores Berlin as a microcosm of streets, food stands and park benches – as change is in progress steadily. In this context, the faces inhabiting the pictures become projections of events. He considers photography to be a medium for (re)gaining one’s identity and self-image, both for himself as an artist and for his subjects.

Aiming to communicate his own experiences as part of a whole, his portraits of Roma people make them and their unique personal stories the focus of attention. These photographs of individuals become defining documentaries for whole groups of people. Pušija’s artistic goal is to seek out microcosms where he lives and works, so that the resulting photographs defy the vague generalisations of his surroundings and daily life.

www.fotofabrika.de

Exhibitions

1988
Fotografija – Galerija Crvena, Sarajevo

1991
NOB – Galerija Kamerni Teatar, Sarajevo

1992-96
Aus der Hölle ins Ungewisse – the life of Roma and refugees from Bosnia in Germany, shown in twenty cities so far, including Berlin, Hamburg, Bielefeld, Lübeck, Cologne and Kiel

1993
Strano – Fremd – Obcy – homage exhibition and performance; organiser, Aliens with us Kunstamt Schöneberg, Berlin

1994
Raumeroberung – Cyclops photo factory exhibition and performance, gallery Süd Ost Europa Kultur, Berlin
Ave Maria – photos of found objects at Hamburg harbour, Galerie Franz Mehring, Berlin
Hotel Europa – photo biennial, Salon Futura, Rotterdam

1995
Queens – drag portraits, exhibition and performance at Moabit florists, Berlin

1996
Komparsen – filmed portraits of prisoners, Gallery Brotfabrik, Berlin

1997
Duldung – life of Roma from Bosnia in Berlin, Cyclops photo factory, exhibition project supported by NGBK Gallery, Berlin
Gallery INA, Zagreb

1998
Gallery Collegium Artisticum, Sarajevo

1999
Gallery Novi Hram, Sarajevo
Formen sind Begriffe / Begriffe sind Formen – drag portraits, Gallery Nagornaja, Moscow
Integration – photographic portraits on textiles, Gallery Kunstraum, Berlin

2000
Sarajevo Self-Portrait – the life of refugees and Roma from Bosnia in Berlin and Germany, Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, USA
Heimat Kunst – photographic portraits on textiles, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
Futura Existentia – solarised portraits, Gallery Kunstraum, Berlin

2001
Museet for Fotokunst, Odense, Denmark
Kulturverein, Rottenburg, Germany

2002
Zwischen Himmel und Erde – Hochschule für Künste, Bremen
Fotografische Impressionen – Museum Europäischer Kulturen, Berlin
NGBK (New Society of Fine Arts) Gallery, Berlin

2003
Représentation du Travail / Travail du Représantation – Centre de la Photographie, Geneva
gallery FAXX, Kunststichting Tilburg
cimdata.de – solarised portraits, Galerie 35, Berlin

2004
We are what we are, Aspects of Roma Life in Contemporary Art – Minoriten Galerien, Graz
Transit, Life of Roma in Rome – camp Casillino 900, Rome
Quo Vadis – Solarised Portraits, National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo

2005
180° – Schwartzsche Villa, Berlin
Peer Gallery, New York
Centre for Contemporary Central European Art, Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic
Galéria Jána Koniarka, Trnava, Slovakia
Galerija SKUC, Ljubljana

2006
Roma and Gadje – Kortárs Roma Galéria, Budapest
National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo
2B Galéria, Budapest

2007
Paradise Lost – 1st Roma Art Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia

2008
Paradise Lost – Museum Kampa, Prague
Parno Gras – Entografski Muzej, Zagreb
Die vergessenen Europäer – Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, Cologne

2009
Parno Gras – Slovenski etnografski muzej, Ljubljana
Bring an Object – Museum of European Cultures, Berlin’s

2010
Duldung Deluxe – ECCHR, Berlin

2011
Call the Witness – 2nd Roma Art Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia | BAK, Utrecht
Reconsidering Rroma – Kunstquartier Kreuzberg, Berlin

2012
Gypsy Revolution – Kallio Kunsthalle, Helsinki
An die Grenze gehen – Instituto Cervantes, Berlin
Void – Gallery BWA Sokół, Nowy
Reclaiming identity – Akademie Graz, Graz
Roma è Roma – Galerie Kai Dikhas, Berlin
All we are / Sa, so amen sam – Wilder Mann, Graz

2013
Romaism – Constructing Roma Cultural History
Duldung Deluxe – Centre Culturel Français Freiburg
Parno Gras – Gallery Collegium Artisticum, Sarajevo

2014
Šta ima? Festival – Gasteig, Munich
Have a Look into My life – book, Aubette, Strasbourg, 2014 | Médiathèque Matéo Maximoff, Paris, 2014 | Kulturforum Bucharest, 2015 | Galerie Duplex 100m2, Sarajevo, 2015
Sarajevo via Berlin via Sarajevo – Studio Я, Maxim Gorki Theater/Theatre, Berlin
Eigen.Bild – Galerie Kai Dikhas, Berlin

2016
Parno gras – Galerie Kai Dikhas, Berlin, 2016 | Museum of Romani Culture, Brno, 2017
From Here To Me – Bulgarian Cultural Institute, Berlin’s
The Journey / Drom – Studio Я, Maxim Gorki Theatre, Berlin

2017
Akathe Te Beshen – Instituto de Cultura Gitana, Madrid
One Thousand Handkerchiefs Against Forgetting – Museum of European Cultures, Berlin
OMONOIA – Athens Biennale, Athen
Minority Festival – The Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts, Sarajevo

Selected Bibliography
Junghaus, Tímea: ‘Egy “báromannus” Magyarországon, Nihad Nino Pušija fotómûvész Berlinbôl’, Amaro Drom, Roma magazine, Budapest, May 2006
Nungesser, Michael: Heimat Kunst: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Kunstforum, July–September 2000