Salima Punjani

Born in Vancouver in 1986, Salima Punjani is a self-taught multisensory artist who uses mediums like soft sculpture, vibrotactile, spatial sound, field recordings, digital video and photography and relational aesthetics. Her artistic approach is intertwined with her interest in trauma-informed care and disability justice. She is particularly interested in how multiple senses can be used to expand the possibilities for people to feel welcome in art spaces as well as to create artful experiences of empathy, intimacy, and connection. Her recent work explores themes such as pleasure, grief, rest as resistance to systemic injustice and how medical data can be subverted into finding human connection rather than pathologies.

She holds a B.A. in Communications and Political Science from Carleton University, a Graduate Diploma in Journalism from Concordia University and a Master’s in Social Work from McGill University with research focusing on the intersection of the arts and care work.

She has shown work at many artist-run centres across Canada as well as the Phi Centre, Musée Regionale de Rimouski and the Spatial Sound Institute. Her work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Montreal Arts Council, Quebec Arts Council, International Development Research Council and SSHRC.

She is currently enjoying playing with synthesizers and deep listening while getting lost in botanical gardens.