Storytelling with Saris will be featured at the Gallery Cosmos booth (Booth C3) along with other artists. The exhibition is curated by Leah Stoddard. There will be a mini sari-video installation, photos, and prints.

There will also be a special performance by Monica Jahan Bose called JALOBAYU (Climate. Water. Wind) on Friday, Dec. 5 at 4 pm.

VIP Preview: Dec. 2 from 4-8 pm (please contact for invitation)
Select Fair hours: Dec. 3-7, 2014 11 am to 8 pm everyday except Sunday (closing at 5 pm).

Please come and join us in Miami! The entrance to the fair is near the beach on Ocean Parkway and 73rd Street.

JALOBAYU জলবায়ু
Climate . Water . Wind

a performance/installation by
MONICA JAHAN BOSE

The body, wrapped in a 216-foot sari written on and worn by 12 coastal women in Bangladesh, collaborates with wind, sand, and water to speak to increasing cyclones, sea level rise, and loss of food and heritage caused by climate change. “Jalobayu” means climate in Bengali and is a combination of the words for water and wind. The performance alludes to rituals in Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity.

JALOBAYU references narratives, both real and mythological, including the Indian myth of Draupadi, the eternal virgin who was married to five brothers, as well as the true story of the artist’s grandmother Johora, who was married at age seven and years later swept away by a cyclone. In South Asian and other cultures, water symbolizes death, destruction, purification, and renewal. Draupadi bathes and become a virgin daily.

The endless sari is part of STORYTELLING WITH SARIS, a collaborative art and advocacy project highlighting gender and climate change. JALOBAYU juxtaposes women’s words and their worn saris against the backdrop of the rising ocean in Miami Beach.

SELECT MIAMI, 73rd & Ocean Terrace, Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, 4:00 pm

Please join me for the scoop on Art Basel-Miami Beach, the SELECT Art Fair, and the Jalobayu performance. This is the final salon of the year! I will be sharing images and telling you about the my next journey to Katakhali, which starts on January 30th, 2015.

Please join Monica Jahan Bose, creator of STORYTELLING WITH SARIS, for an interactive workshop about women’s empowerment in the face of climate change. Monica is collaborating on an art and advocacy project with women from her ancestral coastal village in Katakhali, Bangladesh. In 2014, she was invited to do public presentations at the Brooklyn Museum, at the Edward M. Kennedy Center in Bangladesh, and during Art Basel-Miami Beach. The goal of the SARI PLEDGE & EMPOWERMENT WORKSHOP is to create links between Americans and Bangladeshis by emphasizing personal stories of empowerment and resilience to inspire Americans to reduce our carbon footprint. Participants will learn about the project through an audio-visual presentation and then write and do woodblock printing on saris, documenting their personal stories and making pledges to protect our planet. Participants are also invited to join a DC public performance with the saris in Fall 2015. The saris will ultimately be returned to Bangladesh to be worn by coastal women. The workshop is free and open to women and men over age 15.

See storytellingwithsaris.com for more details about the project. Funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, which is partially supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

It is going to be a fun and inspiring workshop on a critical issue that impacts us all. Please come and invite friends and colleagues.

Photo credit: Peter Howard.

We are organizing a workshop on climate information sharing and climate adaptation for the people of Katakhali, Bangladesh in collaboration with the International Centre for Climate and Development. Mr. Sarder Shafiqul of the ICCAD will be part of the workshop.

“তারপর”
শাড়ির মধ্যে জীবনগাথা

মনিকা জাহান বোস
যৌথ আয়োজনে চলচ্চিত্র নির্মাতা নন্দিতা আহমেদ এবং কাটাখালী গ্রামের নারীরা

AND THEN
Storytelling with Saris

An exhibition by MONICA JAHAN BOSE
In collaboration with filmmaker Nandita Ahmed and the women of Katakhali Village, Patuakhali District

As part of One Billion Rising Bangladesh (উদ্যমে উত্তরণে শতকোটি) REVOLUTION 2015.

The opening will feature music. Exhibition dates: 10-14 February 2015 (closed on Thursdays)

The 216-foot sari and the films in the exhibition are part of Storytelling with Saris, an art and advocacy project that uses woodblock prints on saris, writing, performance, and video to address women’s empowerment in the face of climate change in the remote community of Katakhali Village, Barobaishdia Island, Patuakhali District. Bangladeshi-American artist and activist Monica Jahan Bose is collaborating with 12 women from Katakhali who have recently acquired literacy and are valiantly fighting climate change. The 12 women are Hawa, Hasina, Khuku Rani, Nasima, Noor Sehera, Parveen, Roxana, Salma, Shahida, Shima, Zakia, and Zulekha. Monica’s mother Noorjahan Bose, author of the award-winning memoirs “Agunmukhar Meye,” was born and raised in Katakhali. Filmmaker Nandita Ahmed is working with Monica to document the project with film and photography. The longterm project highlights the women’s personal stories to inspire the world to take action on gender discrimination and climate change.

The women of Katakhali have written and printed words and images on saris, which have been worn by them for eight months and then used for performances and installations around the world. The 216-foot sari displayed here references the story of Draupadi and was featured in several performances in the United States — in Washington DC at (e)merge art fair, in Brooklyn, New York at the DUMBO Arts Festival and the Brooklyn Museum, in Newark, New Jersey at the Gateway Arts Center, and in Miami Beach, Florida at SELECT Art Fair during Art Basel-Miami Beach, the world’s largest art event.

On 14 February, 2015, Monica will use this sari for a performance in front of the Bangladesh National Museum as part of the One Billion Rising Revolution 2015 to bring attention to gender-based violence.

১৫৪ হাত লম্বা শাড়িটি এবং ফিল্ম দুটি ‘শাড়ির মধ্যে জীবনগাঁথা’ প্রকল্পটির অংশ। এই প্রকল্পটি কাটাখালী গ্রাম,পটুয়াখালী জেলার নারীদের সঙ্গে সহযোগিতাভিত্তিক উদ্যোগ । এখানে ব্লক প্রিন্ট, নারীদের জীবন কাহিনী লেখা, চলচ্চিত্র ও অভিনয়শিল্প দিয়ে নারীর ক্ষমতায়ন তুলে ধরা হয়েছে। কাটাখালী গ্রামটি বড় বাইশদিয়া দ্বীপে অবস্থিত ও জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন দ্বারা ক্ষতিগ্রস্ত। বাংলাদেশী আমেরিকান শিল্পী ও মানবাধিকার কর্মী মনিকা জাহান বোসের মা, নূরজাহান বোস ( ‘আগুনমুখার মেয়ে’ ) কাটাখালী গ্রামে জন্মেছেন ও বড় হয়েছেন। মনিকা কাটাখালী গ্রামের ১২ জন নারীর সাথে কাজ করছেন। তাঁদের নাম হাওয়া, হাসিনা, খুকু রানি, নাসিমা, নূর চেহারা, পারভীন, রোকসানা, সালমা, শাহিদা, সীমা, জাকিয়া, ও জুলেখা। প্রকল্পটি দীর্ঘ দিন চলবে এবং এর উদ্দেশ্য নারীর জীবন কাহিনীকে প্রাধান্য দিয়ে নারীর অধিকার ও জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন সম্পর্কে পৃথিবীর মানুষদেরকে অনুপ্রাণিত করা।

কাটা খালীর নারীরা বয়স্ক শিক্ষাকেন্দ্র থেকে লিখতে শিখেছেন এবংশাড়ির উপর লিখেছেন , ব্লক ছাপিয়েছেন এবং সেই শাড়িগুলো তারা আট মাস পরেছেন। তারপর শাড়িগুলো পৃথিবীর নানা জায়গায় স্থাপনাশিল্প এবং অভিনয়শিল্পের অনুষঙ্গ হিসেবে প্রদর্শিত হয়েছে। বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় জাদুঘরে টানানো ১৫৪ হাত লম্বা শাড়িটি মহাভারতের দ্রৌপদীর কথা স্মরণ করিয়ে দেয়। এই শাড়িটি ‍যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের নানা জায়গায় অভিনয়শিল্পে উপস্থাপিত হয়েছে — ওয়াশিংটন ডি.সি’র ইমার্জ আর্ট ফেয়ার, নিউ ইয়র্কের ব্রুকলিন মিউজিয়াম ও ডাম্বো আর্টস ফ্যাসটিভাল, নিউ জার্সি‘র গেটওয়ে আর্ট সেন্টার এবং মায়ামির আর্ট বাসেল।

১৪ ই ফেব্রুয়ারি, ২০১৫ তে এই শাড়িটি দিয়ে শিল্পী মনিকা জাহান বোস বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় জাদুঘরের সামনে একটি অভিনয়শিল্প পরিবেশন করবেন। এই অভিনয়শিল্প ও প্রদর্শনীটি ‘উদ্যমে উত্তরণে শত কোটি বিপ্লব ২০১৫’ এর একটি অংশ।

Please come join me for the One Billion Rising REVOLUTION 2015 event at and in front of the National Museum on V-day 2015. My performance will start in the National Museum and move out to the street.

Monica Jahan Bose has been invited to give the annual Women in America Lecture at Simpson College, Iowa in celebration of Women’s History Month. She will be presenting the Storytelling with Saris project and its implications for gender and climate change.

I will be giving a presentation about Storytelling with Saris and using art as a tool of social change at the SAALT Conference. This is part of the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective’s interactive workshop with my co-presenters Aaliya Zaveri and Ambika Samarthya-Howard.

Please join us for Climate and Actions: Storytelling with Saris. Exhibition dates: May 8 to June 6, 2015. This cumulative exhibition of saris and prints on paper evolves as participants create art on saris pledging to reduce carbon footprint.

Opening reception and workshop: May 8, 6 -8 pm.

Participants will write and print on saris their personal stories and pledges to reduce carbon footprint. The saris will be added to the exhibition during the course of the show. The workshops will culminate in a public performance in fall 2015 using the pledge saris, which will later be returned to Bangladesh to be worn by coastal women.

Workshop dates: Thursdays May 14 and 21, 11 am to 1 pm and Saturdays May 23, May 30, and June 6 from 11 am to 2 pm.

The project and exhibition are funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities​, which is partially supported by the National Endowment on the Arts.

Photo: “Surge 2,” Woodblock and watercolor on paper, Monica Jahan Bose 2015.