1.5 • C installation at Ward !2 Group Exhibition of S&R Studio Program fellows
Site specific video installation with woodblock printed saris, lightbulbs, and snowglobes

Exhibition dates: December 7-December 17, 2016 (daily from 1-4 pm). Register for viewing after the opening. Click for more details.

One point five degrees is the maximum increase allowable from preindustrial global temperatures to avoid catastrophic effects of climate change. This was adopted as the “aspirational” goal of the Paris Agreement by 195 nations in December 2015. The agreement limits the temperature increase to no more than 2 degrees, but aspires to keep the increase within 1.5 degrees. Island and low-lying countries like Bangladesh vehemently pushed for 1.5 degrees. We have already increased the world’s temperature by almost one degree.
The saris were printed and painted in collaboration with women from my ancestral village on Barobaishdia Island, Bangladesh. These women have recently learned to read and are confronting, learning about, and adapting to climate change. The island may become submerged unless the world takes action. The video is a sample from my future film “Rising Up to Climate Change: Storytelling with Saris,” made in collaboration with Leena Jayaswal and Shefali Akhter Shetu.

The used lightbulbs were collected from DC residents in Ward 1 and 2, including S&R artists and staff and Halcyon fellows and staff, who I encouraged to switch to LED lights to reduce their carbon footprint. The snowglobes are part of a 30-year old family collection, visually representing the world drowning from climate change.

Ward 12
Ward 12 is the culmination of the creative work by 12 DC artists awarded studio space in the historic Fillmore School in Georgetown, built in 1893. These artists were selected for the powerful message of their artistic work, and their potential to make future contributions to the artistic and cultural fabric of Washington, DC. Dedicated studio space was provided at the Fillmore School in order for each artist to pursue their creative work freely, in any manner that they choose.

Their individual work utilizes a broad range of artistic media: painting, sculpture and installation, performance, literature, film making, fashion, and dance. They are all united by their expressions of social consciousness and awareness of some of the most intractable collective issues of our present moment; from the harmful effects of climate change on communities, the crisis in Syria, to the future of our urban environments. This exhibition celebrates their depth of vision, critical thinking, and insight into complex issues that surround us.

The exhibition will present works, screenings, and performances by:

Konshens the MC | Mattias Kraemer | Daniel Pheonix Singh | Eames Armstrong | Grethe Wittrock | Monica Jahan Bose | Anna Kaminski | Erik Moe | Ayana Zaire Cotton | Marion Colomer | Anna Tsouhlarakis | Reilly Dowd

Talk title: “From Bangladesh to Brooklyn: Transnational Art Practices” by Monica Jahan Bose

Abstract: Monica Jahan Bose has lived in Bangladesh, the U.K., the United States, Japan, France, Pakistan, and India. Using the sari as a symbol for women’s lives, she has presented her work in tiny villages in Bangladesh, at art fairs during Miami Basel, and on the streets of Brooklyn. Her talk presents her recent projects and considers how South Asia and Bangladesh enter conceptual frameworks and art practices in the US, the extent to which artists in Bangladesh are influenced by the outside world, and the impact and interplay of colonization and globalization on the art world in South Asia and the US.

Bio:
Monica Jahan Bose is a Bangladeshi-American artist, lawyer, and activist whose work spans performance, painting, film, photography, printmaking, and interdisciplinary projects. Her solo performance/installations and exhibitions have been presented at Art Asia Miami, Twelve Gates Gallery, the Bangladesh National Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the DUMBO Arts Festival, (e)merge art fair, SELECT Art Fair (during Miami Basel), UNESCO, Galerie Deborah Zafman, and many other venues. She studied art at Wesleyan University and Santiniketan (India) and has a law degree from Columbia University. She is the creator of “Storytelling with Saris,” a longterm collaborative art and advocacy project with 12 women from her ancestral island village, which is adversely impacted by climate change. Monica lives and works in Washington, D.C. and Bangladesh.

The sari installation in the atrium is called “Power” and is part of the “4 + 1” Exhibition curated by Shanthi Chandrasekar. The opening is at 7 pm on March 9, 2017. The show is up through April 30th. Hours from 8:30 am to 9:30 pm on weekdays, on Saturdays 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Sundays 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

A 16-minute sample preview of the upcoming film “Rising up to Climate Change: Storytelling with Saris” along with the UN film “Thirty Million” will be screened in the NY offices of Earthjustice and shown via webinar to their offices around the country. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Monica Jahan Bose.

For the VISION DC Arts and Urban Innovation Summit 2017, Monica Jahan Bose will create a video installation called TOGETHER.

TOGETHER speaks to climate change with collaborative saris made in Bangladesh and Washington, D.C. as well as a new video work.

There are panels, performances, and installations throughout the day. More details about the summit here.

We are very excited to be presenting another workshop on gender and climate for the Sierra Club’s Youth Activist Weekend 2017 in Washington, D.C. This year’s workshop will include a pre-view screening of a scene selects from the upcoming film RISING UP TO CLIMATE CHANGE: STORYTELLING WITH SARIS.

Come and learn about solar energy in a fun and conversational setting as part of a series of Storytelling with Saris climate advocacy events. I was inspired by the women of Katakhali Village in Bangladesh to install solar panels on my own home. I will share how my solar project is going and we will hear from other neighbors who have recently installed panels. We will also be making a climate pledge sari to be sent back to Bangladesh to be worn by women in the island community of Katakhali. Drinks and food and much conviviality are promised! The event is free but you must register. Donations to the project are very much appreciated. Storytelling with Saris is supported in part by the DC Commision on the Arts and Humanities, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

-Monica

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center presents “Ae Kai,” a culture lab on convergence
Dates: July 7-9, 2017, 11 am to 9 pm
Location: Site of former Foodland, Ala Moana Shopping Center, Honololu, Hawai’i

I will be presenting RECLAIM, an installation and interactive language and climate lab in collaboration with Hawai’ian artist Hina Kneubuhl. I am also collaborating with Hawai’ian artist Sloane Leong on a zine about the language movements in Hawai’i and Bangladesh.
Special performance on Saturday, July 8, 2017 at 4:00 pm, starting at the Foodland site and moving to Ala Moana beach park.
Website for the Smithsonian “Ae Kai” Culture Lab here.

Monica Jahan Bose will be leading a series of empowerment workshops with women at a shelter in Anacostia. The women are learning about climate change and making a collaborative sari with woodblock, writing, and painting. The workshops will culminate in public performance on the banks of the Anacostia River on September 1, 2017. Stay tuned for details.

This project is funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Photo: Jaclyn Merica.

Change Is Coming, a performance art action by Monica Jahan Bose in collaboration with the women of Calvary Women’s Services.

The performance will begin inside the Calvary garden at 4 pm.  

The public portion will commence at 4:30 pm on the street outside 1217 Good Hope Road, SE and continue to the Anacostia River.

The performance “Change is Coming” is the culmination of a series of climate art workshops held at Calvary Women’s Services, a transitional program for homeless women in Anacostia, Washington DC. Calvary provides housing, education, and support for homeless women, some of whom are escaping from domestic violence. In 2015, during the exhibition/workshops “Climate and Actions” at Anacostia Arts Center, a woman called Amanda joined a climate art workshop and was so excited by it that she brought 25 women from her shelter to join a special workshop organized just for Calvary women. During 2016-2017, Monica Jahan Bose has been working with women in this shelter, leading on-site collaborative workshops that include sharing stories and knowledge about climate change and creating saris with climate pledges from women in Anacostia to women in Katakhali Village, Barobaishida Island, Bangladesh.The saris will be used the performance and later returned to Bangladesh to be worn by women in Katakhali Village.

The performance script is being determined in collaboration with the women of Calvary, and will include singing, sewing in a vegetable garden tended by the women, and walking to the Anacostia River. The performance takes inspiration from the Sam Cooke song, “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Our walk to the river will echo the women of Katakhali walking to the Darchira River during their performance in January 2016. The workshops and performance are supported by a grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Climate pledge on one of the Calvary saris, June 2017.

Darchira River Performance, Bangladesh, January 2016.

Copyright 2016-2017, Monica Jahan Bose, all rights reserved.