Born in Vancouver in 1986, Salima Punjani is a Montréal-based multisensory artist whose work explores connection, care, and sensory accessibility through immersive sound, touch, and interactive installation.

With a background in social work, her practice blends art and relational aesthetics, transforming biological and everyday sensory data — such as heartbeats, brainwaves, or domestic soundscapes — into environments that invite rest, empathy, and shared experience.

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.

Working across sound, vibration, soft sculptures, multimedia and participatory storytelling, Salima creates spaces that challenge traditional sensory hierarchies, contributing to contemporary conversations on accessibility, intimacy, and multisensory artistic practice.

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 in New York City until January 2027 enjoying playing with synthesizers and deep listening while getting lost in botanical gardens.

Upcoming exhibitions and residencies:

Of All Senses: Galerie d'art Louise-et-Reuben-Cohen Moncton, NB until Sept. 27/2026

VUCAVU Curatorial Incubator: Upcoming

NYU Tandem School of Engineering: Sound Art Residency Aug 2026

CALQ NYC Studio Residency July-December 2026

Deer Lake Residency: 2027

Salima's 2025 projects and Research
Video made by Vjosana Shkurti

Salima describing her approach to art
Video made by Vjosana Shkurti for Ada X

I acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts