BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//74.208.236.71//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.26.9// CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:Storytelling With Saris X-WR-CALDESC: X-FROM-URL:https://storytellingwithsaris.com X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20261101T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 RDATE:20271107T020000 TZNAME:EST END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260308T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 RDATE:20270314T020000 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:ai1ec-4730@storytellingwithsaris.com DTSTAMP:20260609T213012Z CATEGORIES;LANGUAGE=en-US:art CONTACT:Nathalie Von Veh\; nvonveh@wpadc.org\; https://wpadc.org/exhibition s/braids-threads-connecting-legacies/ DESCRIPTION:Braids & Threads: Closing Day & Performance\nSunday\, March 8\, International Women’s Day\n1-5 pm\, performance begins at 3 pm.\nWPA\, 13 50 Connecticut Ave NW (Storefront).  Metro: Dupont Circle (South Exit).\n To honor International Women’s Day and the conclusion of their project wit h WPA\, collaborating artists Monica Jahan Bose and Autumn Spears invite a udiences to join them for a closing day performance that highlights their heritage and the fiber skills learned from women elders. The artists will lead a procession from WPA’s Project Space to Heurich House Museum in Dupo nt Circle\, guiding the audience through a ritualized performance featurin g garments and wearable art made by Bose and Spears during their residency . They will be joined by 12 participants and audience members are also wel come to take part. Bose and Spears’ procession functions as a solemn prote st against racism and the active erasure of the multiple cultures and stor ies that make up the U.S. Audience members are encouraged to join the arti sts after for a closing celebration in the biergarten at Heurich House Mus eum. WPA’s Project Space will be open especially for this program from 1-5 pm. Please arrive before 3 pm to view the exhibition\, because several par ts will be dismantled and used as part of the performance.  WPA’s new loca tion in Dupont Circle\, 1350 Connecticut Avenue NW\, Washington DC (storef ront).\nGather at WPA’s Project Space (1350 Connecticut Ave NW) before 3pm . Latecomers should join the performance at Heurich House Museum (1307 New Hampshire Ave NW) or find the performers en route.\nBraids & Threads: Clo sing Performance is presented in partnership with Heurich House Museum. \n Monica Jahan Bose is a Bangladeshi-American artist and activist whose work spans performance\, painting\, printmaking\, film\, and installation. Her socially engaged work highlights the intersection of climate\, racial\, g ender\, and economic injustice through co-created workshops\,installations \, and performances. She has exhibited her work extensively in the US and internationally including solo exhibitions at the Bangladesh National Muse um and MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art Rome. She has been awarded five la rge-scale public art grants in DC\, each centering community co-creation a nd featuring multiple workshops\, film/projections\, performances\, and si te-specific installation.\nHer ongoing collaborative art and advocacy proj ect Storytelling with Saris\, started in 2012 with women farmers from her ancestral island village\, has traveled to eight countries and 13 US state s\, engaging thousands of people. Her work has appeared in The Miami Heral d\, The Washington Post\, BBC\, Art Asia Pacific\, The Milwaukee Sentinel\ , The Honolulu Star Advertiser\, The Japan Times\, Prothom Alo and all maj or newspapers in Bangladesh. The Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum ha s acquired a collection of her paintings\, saris\, woodblocks\, and archiv al materials. She has a BA in studio art and mathematics from Wesleyan Uni versity\, a diploma in art from Santiniketan\, India\, and a JD from Colum bia Law School. She lives and works in Washington\,\nDC.\nAutumn Spears is a DC native whose art serves as a powerful medium for reimagining Black h istories and diasporic narratives. Her upbringing within communities of co lor\, alongside her experiences navigating predominantly white institution s\, has deeply shaped both her identity and artistic vision. Moving betwee n these contrasting spaces sparked her commitment to exploring Black repre sentation and identity across the African diaspora.  In 2020\, she receive d her BFA in Art Education from Albright College. In 2023\, Spears held he r inaugural solo exhibition\, Becoming\, at the Freedman Gallery in Readin g\, Pennsylvania. This milestone event showcased her distinctive style and marked the beginning of a promising artistic journey. Additionally\, Spea rs’ work has been featured in local cultural institutions such as the MLK Memorial Library\, Charles Sumner School\, Anacostia Arts Center\, and the Anacostia Community Museum. Spears is also a 2024 DC Commission on the Ar ts & Humanities grant recipient and 2025 Art Bank finalist.\nAbout WPA\nFo unded in 1975\, Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) is a nonprofit incub ator and laboratory for artist-organized projects\, headquartered in Dupon t Circle\, Washington\, DC. Since its founding\, WPA has presented more th an 500 exhibitions\; 1\,000 performances\; 700 lectures\, workshops\, and symposia\; 250 screenings\; and 58 public art projects. Over the past four decades\, nearly every major visual artist in the District has been part of WPA’s programming. After renewing its mission in 2018\, WPA has carved out a new identity with a national and international scope\, uplifting val ues of collaboration\, experimentation\, and inclusivity in all of its pro grammatic and operational activities. Learn more at wpadc.org. DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260308T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260308T170000 LOCATION:Washington Project for the Arts @ 1350 Connecticut Avenue\, NW\, W ashington DC SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:Braids & Threads Performance & Closing Day URL:https://storytellingwithsaris.com/event/braids-threadsperformance/ X-COST-TYPE:free X-WP-IMAGES-URL:thumbnail\;https://storytellingwithsaris.com/wp-content/upl oads/2025/11/IMG_1782-150x150.jpeg\;150\;150\;1\,medium\;https://storytell ingwithsaris.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/IMG_1782-225x300.jpeg\;225\;30 0\;1\,large\;https://storytellingwithsaris.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ IMG_1782-768x1024.jpeg\;768\;1024\;1\,full\;https://storytellingwithsaris. com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/IMG_1782-scaled.jpeg\;1920\;2560\; X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n

Braids & Threads: Closing Day & Performance

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Sunday\ , March 8\, International Women’s Day

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1-5 pm\, performance begins at 3 pm.

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WPA\, 1350 Connecticut Ave NW (Storefront).  Metro: Dupont Circle (South Exit).

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To h onor International Women’s Day and the conclusion of their project with WP A\, collaborating artists Monica Jahan Bose and A utumn Spears invite audiences to join them for a closing day perf ormance that highlights their heritage and the fiber skills learned from w omen elders. The artists will lead a procession from WPA’s Project Space to Heurich House Museum in Dupont Circle\ , guiding the audience through a ritualized performance featuring garments and wearable art made by Bose and Spears during their residency. They wil l be joined by 12 participants and audience members are also welcome to ta ke part. Bose and Spears’ procession functions as a solemn protest against racism and the active erasure of the multiple cultures and stories that m ake up the U.S. Audience members are encouraged to join the artists after for a closing celebration in the biergarten at Heurich House Museum. WPA’s Project Space will be open especially for this program from 1-5pm . Please arrive before 3 pm to view the exhibition\, because several parts will be dismantled and used as part of the performance.  WPA’s new loc ation in Dupont Circle\, 1350 Connecticut Avenue NW\, Washington DC (storefront).

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Gather at WPA’s Project Space (1350 Connecticut Ave NW) before 3pm. Latecomers s hould join the performance at Heurich House Museum (1307 New Hampshire Ave NW) or find th e performers en route.

\n

Braids & Threads: Closi ng Performance is presented in partnership with Heurich House Museum. 

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Monica Jahan Bose is a Bangladeshi-Americ an artist and activist whose work spans performance\, painting\, printmaki ng\, film\, and installation. Her socially engaged work highlights the int ersection of climate\, racial\, gender\, and economic injustice through co -created workshops\,installations\, and performances. She has exhibited he r work extensively in the US and internationally including solo exhibition s at the Bangladesh National Museum and MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art R ome. She has been awarded five large-scale public art grants in DC\, each centering community co-creation and featuring multiple workshops\, film/pr ojections\, performances\, and site-specific installation.

\n

Her ongoing collaborative art an d advocacy project Storytelling with Saris\, started in 2012 with w omen farmers from her ancestral island village\, has traveled to eight cou ntries and 13 US states\, engaging thousands of people. Her work has appea red in The Miami Herald\, The Washington Post\, BBC\, Art Asia Pacific\, The Milwaukee Sentinel\, The Honolulu Star Advertiser\, Th e Japan Times\, Prothom Alo and all major newspapers in Banglad esh. The Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum has acquired a collection of her paintings\, saris\, woodblocks\, and archival materials. She has a BA in studio art and mathematics from Wesleyan University\, a diploma in a rt from Santiniketan\, India\, and a JD from Columbia Law School. She live s and works in Washington\,

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DC.

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Autumn Spears is a DC native whose art serves as a powerful medium fo r reimagining Black histories and diasporic narratives. Her upbringing wit hin communities of color\, alongside her experiences navigating predominan tly white institutions\, has deeply shaped both her identity and artistic vision. Moving between these contrasting spaces sparked her commitment to exploring Black representation and identity across the African diaspora.  In 2020\, she received her BFA in Art Education from Albright College. In 2023\, Spears held her inaugura l solo exhibition\, Becoming\, at the Freedman Gallery in Reading\, Pennsylvania. This milestone event showcased her distinctive style and ma rked the beginning of a promising artistic journey. Additionally\, Spears’ work has been featured in local cultural institutions such as the MLK Mem orial Library\, Charles Sumner School\, Anacostia Arts Center\, and the An acostia Community Museum. Spears is also a 2024 DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities grant recipient and 2025 Art Bank finalist.

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About WPA

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Founded in 1975\, Washington Proje ct for the Arts (WPA) is a nonprofit incubator and laboratory for artist-o rganized projects\, headquartered in Dupont Circle\, Washington\, DC. Sinc e its founding\, WPA has presented more than 500 exhibitions\; 1\,000 perf ormances\; 700 lectures\, workshops\, and symposia\; 250 screenings\; and 58 public art projects. Over the past four decades\, nearly every major vi sual artist in the District has been part of WPA’s programming. After rene wing its mission in 2018\, WPA has carved out a new identity with a nation al and international scope\, uplifting values of collaboration\, experimen tation\, and inclusivity in all of its programmatic and operational activi ties. Learn more at wpadc.org.

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