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Arts & Entertainment : Picks

“Climate and Actions: Storytelling with Saris” at Anacostia Arts Center
Saturday, May 9
By Anya van Wagtendonk • May 8, 2015

Residents of Katakhali, a rural village on a remote island far off the southern coast of Bangladesh, have struggled against the impacts of climate change over the last decades. Cyclones have repeatedly torn through this farm-dependent community, rendering soil infertile and economic opportunities scarce, and a rising tide has generated fear for the island’s very survival. D.C.-based artist Monica Jahan Bose, whose family comes from Katakhali, started her multimedia “Storytelling with Saris” project to merge art with climate activism, leading art and writing workshops with 12 local women to help document their lives on a changing island. The resulting art objects—large-scale prints on sari fabric, journal entries, and a video of the process—are part of a travelling exhibition, “Climate and Actions,” in which visitors are encouraged to think about and address their roles in climate change. By focusing on women’s lives, using their traditional garb as artistic medium and strengthening literacy through storytelling and writing classes, Bose is celebrating a community’s steps toward gender equality, even in the face of an uncertain future. The exhibition is on view May 8 to June 6 at the Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope Road SE. Free. (202) 631-6291. anacostiaartscenter.com.