Boban Stojanović

Artist Biography

Boban Stojanović is a Serbian Canadian queer artist, writer and activist based in Calgary. Born in Zaječar, Serbia, he became a leading LGBTQ+ and human rights advocate in Belgrade, cofounding the Queeria Centre and organizing the city’s first safe Pride parade. After years of threats and violence, Boban sought asylum in Canada in 2016, where his life and art took on new forms of expression and healing. His visual practice is rooted in collage, layering vintage images, fragments of memory and poetic text to explore identity, migration, queerness and resilience.

Each piece begins with a single image or emotion that speaks to him and grows into a deep personal reflection on belonging and transformation. His poetry, including the collection This Could Have Been Our Living Room, complements his visual work, translating experiences of displacement and love into intimate, lyrical form.

Now serving as Vice President at the Centre for Newcomers, Boban continues his advocacy for refugees, women and LGBTQ+ newcomers while exhibiting his art across Calgary. His creative journey reflects his belief that art can hold pain and beauty in the same breath, that every torn image and word can be reassembled into something whole. Through his collages and poems, he invites viewers to see fragments of their own stories and to recognize the power of survival, tenderness and authenticity.

“If our art touches even a single heart,” he says, “then we have already achieved our purpose.”

Instagram: @resilient_poet