At Kuma International, we believe that art has the power not only to represent trauma, but to transform it into dialogue and memory into a shared future.
Founded in Sarajevo in 2018, Kuma is a non-profit research and educational center dedicated to the visual arts of post-conflict societies. Rooted in Bosnia and Herzegovina and increasingly connected to other war-affected regions, Kuma works at the intersection of art, memory, and social transformation.
Through research, education, artistic exchange, and collective reflection, we explore how artistic practices respond to war, genocide, displacement, and trauma, and how culture can create spaces for dialogue, critical reflection, reconciliation, and long-term processes of healing.
Over time, Kuma has developed a multidisciplinary, trauma-informed methodology that uses artistic production and cultural exchange to address the long-term psychological and social consequences of conflict. Central to this approach is the creation of safe environments where people can share lived experiences, confront contested histories, and learn collectively through visual culture.
We work closely with artists, curators, educators, survivors of war and genocide, former refugees, researchers, and young people. At the core of Kuma’s work lies the belief that the experiences of Bosnian artists and cultural workers who lived through war, siege, displacement, and genocide continue to offer valuable insights for societies grappling with the legacies of violence, conflict, and forced migration.
Many of Kuma’s initiatives are built on long-term relationships, with former participants, artists, educators, and collaborators continuing to work together across projects, countries, and years. Kuma acts as a bridge between local post-conflict realities and international networks, translating lived experience into critical knowledge and facilitating exchanges grounded in care, ethics, trust, and accountability.
Kuma’s programs include workshops, exhibitions, lectures, field trips, books, documentaries, artistic research projects, artist residencies, and educational initiatives developed across Bosnia and Herzegovina and internationally. Alongside its public programs, Kuma also develops consultancy and tailor-made educational projects for international organisations, universities, schools, and visiting groups.
Through these activities, we engage with students, artists, educators, researchers, cultural professionals, and young people from around the world, offering critical tools, perspectives, and lived experiences through which to better understand the legacies of war, displacement, and social transformation.
Founder
Kuma International was conceived and founded by Dr. Claudia Zini, an Italian art historian, curator, and educator. Her connection with Bosnia and Herzegovina began in 2008, when she first visited the country after meeting a group of young Bosnian artists in Italy. Their experiences of war, displacement, and post-war life profoundly shaped her research, curatorial practice, and long-term engagement with the region.
Claudia moved to Sarajevo in 2015 and has since dedicated her work to exploring the intersections of art, memory, trauma, and post-conflict societies.
She holds a PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. Her doctoral thesis examined contemporary art in Bosnia and Herzegovina during and after the 1992–1995 war, a subject that continues to inform her research, curatorial practice, and educational work.
In recognition of her contribution to cultural diplomacy and strengthening ties between Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina, she was awarded the Order of the Star of Italy.
Claudia is currently an Allianz Foundation Fellow. Her fellowship supports ongoing research into how methodologies developed through Kuma’s work in Bosnia and Herzegovina can foster dialogue, solidarity, and shared learning across conflict-affected societies.
Governance
Kuma International is governed by its Founding Assembly, composed of the organisation’s founders:
- Dr. Claudia Zini (Italy)
- Izela Kešmer (Bosnia and Herzegovina), President of the Founding Assembly
- Dr. Irfan Hošić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
The organisation is led by Executive Director Dr. Claudia Zini and supported by a small operational team and project-based collaborators.
Advisory Board
Kuma International is advised by an international Advisory Board composed of leading scholars whose work focuses on art history, memory studies, anthropology, migration, genocide studies, and post-conflict societies:
- Dr. Stephenie Young (United States)
- Dr. Klara Kemp-Welch (United Kingdom / Poland)
- Dr. Hariz Halilovich (Australia)
The Advisory Board provides strategic guidance and supports the development of Kuma’s educational, research, and international activities.