Azra Selimovic was 3 months old when her family escaped from war-torn Bosnia in 1993. Three decades later, Selimovic is co-owner of one of the few Bosnian-owned tattoo shops — and her connection to tattoos goes deeper than just ink.
On Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air, Selimovic described how her family had faced a checkpoint in Serbia. Standing between them and freedom was a Serbian officer waiting to receive their documents.
“If the officer saw our names right away, he'd know that we're Bosnian. We would be sent off, and that would be it for us,” she recounted. “And at that moment, my father was taking the paperwork out of his bag, and a bee came and stung the officer by his eye. He was very furious, and he just kind of threw the papers and said, ‘Go, go, go.’ And that's how we passed that checkpoint.”
In honor of that moment, Azra and her family members each have a bee tattoo. Selimovic’s family eventually moved to the U.S., first to Atlanta, but in 2000 they joined the large Bosnian community in St. Louis.
Selimovic’s new shop, Azra Tattoo in Affton, opened its doors on Sept. 3.
To hear more from Azra Selimovic, including the historical importance of tattoos in Bosnian culture, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcast or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Ulaa Kuziez is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
