LA MAREA, the performance, on December 12, 2019 evening, was for me quite astounding. People I had just met that day or a few days before joined in for an hour creating the rising tide by sewing together seven saris by hand, stitch by stitch. We were so in sync, it was miraculous. Thank you to everyone who joined. Special thanks to Simona Amelotti for curating and presenting my work in Italy for the first time, to MACRO Director Giorgio de Finis and all the wonderful staff for incredible support during my 10-day project and culminating performance, to Nandita Ahmed for coming from Brussels and documenting, to Caterina Tedeschini for invaluable help with installation and the climate lab, to Jose Witteveen for being a wonderful performance assistant and finding Francesca to sing so beautifully in Italian, and to all the more than 25 participants in the performance. We were nuns, artists, tourists, students, economists, parents, and a baby from such places as Italy, Holland, Bangladesh, The Philippines, Indonesia, Greece, from the continents of Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and North and South America! Grazie Roma! -Monica Jahan Bose

This project was supported by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Performance assistant: Jose Witteveen. Participants: Marco Arimattei, Virginie Zimmer, Giuua Arimattei, Diop Amar, Habibur Rahman, Massimo Scognaniglio, Angeles Lopez, Raza Fiarisoa Julienne, Francesca Ruffo, Paolo Litterio, Caterina Tedeschini, Angelica Pinella, Gaby Valery, Maria Antoinettta Diana, Julienne Arisoa, Luca Mattone, Adrianna Mendez, Stefany Escritura, and many more.

Exhibition curator: Simona Amelotti.

Location: MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, December 12, 2019.

Photo credit: Nandita Ahmed; all images copyright 2019 Monica Jahan Bose.