LEJLA HODŽIĆ was born in 1973 in Sarajevo. Studies at the Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo were interrupted due to the war. 1994 attended curatorial studies at the Ecole du Magasin, Center National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble France. 1995 she had an internship in the design department (CCI – Center de Creation Industriel), Center Georges Pompidou, Paris, France and an internship at the Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA), Budapest, Hungary. From 1996 to 2000 studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo: graduated from the Department of Graphic Design, and in 2023 completed M.A. at the Department of Product Design.
In the period 1993-94 she worked at the Obala Art Center in Sarajevo on the organization of several exhibitions and did graphic design of printed materials (“Witnesses of Existence”;, Milomir Kovačević Strašni, Annie Leibovitz, Sophie Ristelhueber, Paul Lowe, etc.). In 1995 she was assistant curator to Adeline von Frustenberg, at the group exhibition “Dialogue de Paix”, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the UN, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland. From 1997 to 2004 she worked at the Sarajevo Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA) as program coordinator for visual arts. She worked on the organization of numerous exhibitions (three SCCA Annual Exhibitions: Meeting Point 1997, Behind the Mirror 1998, Under Construction! 1999, etc.) projects and workshops, and on the establishment of an art archive. 2002-2003 concept and realization of more than 50 interviews with artists entitled “Breakfast with” SCCA, so.ba, Sarajevo.
She has worked as a curator of numerous art exhibitions (2000 “What Am I Doing Here?”, ŠKUC Ljubljana Gallery; 2001 “Sarajevo International” Kristina Leko Sarajevo, Graz, Stockolm, Washington; 2002-2003 “Balkan Consulate”, rotor association for contemporary art Graz, Austria; 2009. “Selected: 10 years of rotor”, Graz, Austria; 2012. “Be Realistic, Demand the Impossible”, Graz and Sarajevo; 2012. ”Culture of Memory”, MES Festival, Java Sarajevo Gallery, 2018. “75 years of ZAVNOBIH History of Virtue”, Brigitte Lacombe / Cinema Portraits” photographs 1975-2017, Sarajevo, Zagreb, Podgorica 2019-2020). From 2021. she designed and curated several exhibition at the WARM Festival: “Palestine, and a Promised Land” 2021, “Traces of Humanity” 2022, “Mariupol” 2022, “Afganistan” 2022, “Sawasawato” 2023, “Art War” 2023, “Do Not Cry This is Our Land” 2023, “A Personal War” 2023. “Be Our Voice” 2023.
Costume designer of feature films directed by Jasmila Žbanić: Grbavica, 2006; On The Path, 2010; For Those Who Can’t Speak, 2012; Love Island, 2014; and short films by Jasmila Žbanić, Sasa Peševski, Ermin Bravo, Alen Šimić, Alban Ukaj.
Since 2010, she has worked in costume design and scenography for more then 60 plays in theaters in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region (directed by Dino Mustafić, Admir Glamočak, Paolo Magelli, Pjer Žalica, Selma Spahić, Tanja Miletić-Oručević, Andras Urban, Boris Liješević, Aleš Kurt, Andrej Nosov, Kokan Mladenović, Ivan Plazibat, Gianluca Iumiento etc.) for which she was awarded at the Festivals in Jajce, Zenica and Užice.
