The Window invites you to the opening of the project SUBSISTENCE, by Monica Jahan Bose in collaboration with Anju Chaudhuri. Curated by: Catherine Bay.

SUBSISTENCE interrogates the ideas of need and consumption and their impacts on climate change and food security, particularly on vulnerable coastal communities. While richer people consume too much of everything and thus use huge amounts of fossil fuel, many people in the world subsist on the bare minimum.“Subsistence” means the minimum needed to survive, as in “subsistence farmers,” who grow food and fish and survive on what they grow and catch.  Bangladeshi-American artist Monica Jahan Bose will be in residence at The Window from June 1-8, 2019 to engage with artists, environmentalists, and the general public on questions that are vital to our survival: How much do we need? What can we do to respond to the climate crisis and growing food insecurity around the world? Is it possible for us to reduce our consumption?  What can we do as individuals and locally? How can we get more support from our governments?  Despite the US federal government’s retreat from the Paris Climate Agreement, what are strategies for moving forward? What is the role of artists with regard to climate change? Should we be discussing climate change every day?

Monica Jahan Bose: Born in Britain, Monica Jahan Bose is a Bangladeshi-American artist, lawyer, and activist whose work spans performance, painting, film, photography, printmaking, and interdisciplinary projects. Her solo projects and performance/installations have been presented at the Brooklyn Museum, Art Asia Miami, Twelve Gates Gallery, the Bangladesh National Museum, the DUMBO Arts Festival, (e)merge art fair, SELECT Art Fair Miami, the Smithsonian Asia Pacific American Center, and many other venues. Bose currently lives and works in Washington, D.C. and Bangladesh. She studied art at Wesleyan University (USA) and Santiniketan (India) and has a law degree from Columbia University (USA). She lived in Paris from 2006-2010 and had solo and duo exhibitions at Galerie Deborah Zafman and UNESCO and was selected for the 2010 Prix Marin Exhibition. Bose has received numerous commissions and awards, including four grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (through the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts) and a 2015 commissioned performance for Nuit Blanche DC.

She is the creator of STORYTELLING WITH SARIS, a longterm collaborative art and advocacy project with her ancestral village of Katakhali, Bangladesh. In December 2015, Bose partnered with the International Centre on Climate and Development to create a climate awareness workshop in Katakhali, Bangladesh. As an artist originating from Katakhali, Bose brings her history into contemporary art, translating these experiences into immersive site-based work. Her heritage and community may drown under the Indian Ocean.

Anju Chaudhuri:

Born in Calcutta, India to a family of Bengali intellectuals enamored of tradition, Anju Chaudhuri lives and works in Paris. She grew up in India, nurtured by the Hindu mythology that permeates daily life, and her many journeys between the sea and the mountains. After receiving a diploma in painting in Calcutta, she left at age 18 to study at St Martin’s School of Art in London, then continued at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, and then in Amsterdam. Chauduri became a master printmaker, learning this art by working side by side with Stanley William Hayter (Atelier 17, Paris). She is renowned internationally for her paintings, prints, drawings, watercolors, and hand-made paper.

She takes her main inspiration from nature and the five elements: air, fire, water, earth, and aether. She has felt increasingly alarmed by the disruption of nature by man and has begun creating works responding to climate change. She has exhibited extensively in France and internationally and received numerous awards and commissions. Her works can be found in the collections of several museums throughout the world, including Ville de Paris, Asia Society (NY), Bronx Museum (NY), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), and National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi).

SUBSISTANCE

The Window vous convie au SUBSISTANCE, un projet de l’artiste activiste Monica Jahan Bose, en collaboration avec Anju Chaudhuri et des autres habitants de Paris. Commissaire de l’événement : Catherine Bay. 1^er au 8 juin 2019. Vernissage et discussion, 1er juin, 2019.  Finissage/performance 8 juin, 2019.

SUBSISTANCE interroge les concepts de besoin et de consommation, ainsi que l’impact que ces derniers ont sur le changement climatique et la sécurité alimentaire, notamment dans les zones côtières, particulièrement vulnérables. Tandis que les populations les plus nanties consomment beaucoup trop de tout – y compris des quantités astronomiques de combustibles fossiles – une grande partie de la population mondiale subsiste avec le minimum vital. Le terme « subsistance » signifie « minimum nécessaire pour vivre » : dans l’« agriculture de subsistance », l’agriculteur vit uniquement de ce qu’il cultive et de ce qu’il pêche.

L’artiste Monica Jahan Bose, une américaine d’origine bangladaise, sera en résidence à la galerie The Window du 1^er au 8 juin 2019. En collaboration avec des artistes, des acteurs de l’environnement et le grand public, elle soulèvera des questions primordiales à la survie de l’humanité : Quels sont nos véritables besoins ? Que pouvons-nous faire pour répondre aux crises du changement de climat et à l’insécurité alimentaire croissante, partout dans le monde ? Est-il possible de réduire radicalement notre consommation ? Que pouvons-nous faire autour de nous, en tant qu’individus? Comment pouvons-nous agir auprès de nos gouvernements pour les inciter à nous soutenir plus ? Face au désistement des USA aux Accords de Paris, que pouvons-nous faire pour continuer d’avancer ? Quel rôle peuvent jouer les artistes face au changement climatique ? Est-ce un sujet que l’on doit introduire dans notre quotidien ?

Bose travaille avec des communautés partout dans le monde, dont des fermières du Bangladesh, qui luttent pour la survie face au changement climatique. Le changement climatique génère d’importantes baisses des rendements de riz et des légumes nécessaires à la survie, en raison de la salinisation des sols et de l’instabilité du climat. De même, il bouleverse les rendements de pêche – à cause du réchauffement des eaux – ainsi que les productions d’oeufs, de produits laitiers et de viande, car de nombreux animaux sont décimés par les orages, qui sont de plus en plus violents et de plus en plus fréquents.

SUBSISTANCE consistera en une occupation et en l’« activation » de l’espace de la galerie The Window et les rues alentour seront animées par des vidéos et des oeuvres de Bose et Chaudhuri : installations, spectacles, conversations publiques, le tout culminant le 8 juin avec un repas partagé.

Monica Jahan Bose:  Née en Angleterre du parents bengalis, citoyenne du Bangladesh et des États-Unis, Monica Jahan Bose est une artiste, avocate et activiste. Les moyens d’expression utilisés dans son oeuvre sont nombreux: peinture, film, photo, gravure, performance, et son approche est pluridisciplinaire. Dans cet esprit, elle tente de marier l’art et la politique. Elle a eu des expositions ou a fait des installations au Brooklyn Museum, Art Asia Miami, le Twelve Gates Gallery, la Musée nationale du Bangladesh, the DUMBO Arts Festival, (e)merge art fair, SELECT Art Fair Miami, Smithsonian Asia Pacific American Center, entre autres. Actuellement, Bose vit et travaille entre Washington, D.C. et le Bangladesh. Elle a fait ses études à l’Université de Wesleyan (USA) ainsi qu’au centre artistique renommé du Santiniketan (Inde) et a reçu son diplôme en droit à l’Université de Columbia (USA). Elle a vécu à Paris de 2006–2010 et, pendant cette période, a fait des expositions personelles à la Galerie Deborah Zafman ainsi qu’à l’UNESCO, et elle fut sélectionnée pour l’exposition du Prix Marin en 2010. L’oeuvre de Bose a été reconnu par de nombreuses entités. Elle a reçu sept bourses de la part de la DC Commission on the arts and humanities (par le biais du U.S. National Endowment for the Arts) et elle a crée une performance pour la Nuit blanche Washington DC (2015). Elle est la créatrice de Storytelling with Saris, un projet artistique collaboratif mené avec son village ancestral de Katakhali au Bangladesh, mariant ensemble son histoire avec l’art contemporain pour attirer l’attention sur le fait que son héritage et son village est en danger de se noyer sous l’Océan Indien.

Anju Chaudhuri: Née à Calcutta (Inde) d’une famille d’intellectuels bengalis attachés à la tradition, Anju Chaudhuri vit et travaille a Paris. En Inde elle s’est nourrie des histoires de la mythologie hindoue qui baigne sa vie quotidienne, et par ses nombreux voyages entre mer et montagne. Après son diplôme de peinture à Calcutta, elle part très jeune étudier à la St-Martin School of Art à Londres, puis aux Beaux Arts à Paris et ensuite à Amsterdam. Maître de la gravure, Anju Chauduri a appris cet art aux côtés de Stanley William Hayter (Alelier 17, à Paris).Elle est connue pour ses peintures, gravures, aquarelles, dessins, et papiers.De ses nombreuses rencontres, elle a gardé le goût des amitiés profondes, des rencontres dans tous pays et continue – depuis Paris où elle a choisi de s’installer – à aller de Berlin à Amsterdam rencontrer des peintres, ses pairs, trouver des médiums, vivre en un mot « en Peinture ».Elle puise son inspiration dans la Nature et dans les 5 éléments : air, feu, eau, terre, éther. Au cours des dernières années, elle a commencé à se préoccuper du dérèglement de la nature par l’homme et a commence à créer des oeuvres autour du sujet du réchauffement planétaire. Primée de nombreuses fois, elle a fait maintes expositions, en France ainsi qu’à l’étranger. Ses oeuvres se trouvent dans les collections de nombre de musées dans le monde, comme Asia Society (NY), Ville de Paris, Bronx Museum (NY), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), et National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi). 

The Window invites you to the closing and performance for the project SUBSISTENCE, by Monica Jahan Bose in collaboration with Anju Chaudhuri and other residents of Paris. The closing will include a performance called “Water Resistance” by Monica Jahan Bose in collaboration with singer Nirina Lune and others.  Monica Jahan Bose will also create a performance called “Dal Bhaat” where she cooks a meal for everyone.

SUBSISTENCE interrogates the ideas of need and consumption and their impacts on climate change and food security, particularly on vulnerable coastal communities. While richer people consume too much of everything and thus use huge amounts of fossil fuel, many people in the world subsist on the bare minimum.“Subsistence” means the minimum needed to survive, as in “subsistence farmers,” who grow food and fish and survive on what they grow and catch.  Bangladeshi-American artist Monica Jahan Bose will be in residence at The Window from June 1-8, 2019 to engage with artists, environmentalists, and the general public on questions that are vital to our survival: How much do we need? What can we do to respond to the climate crisis and growing food insecurity around the world? Is it possible for us to reduce our consumption?  What can we do as individuals and locally? How can we get more support from our governments?  Despite the US federal government’s retreat from the Paris Climate Agreement, what are strategies for moving forward? What is the role of artists with regard to climate change? Should we be discussing climate change every day?

Monica Jahan Bose: Born in Britain, Monica Jahan Bose is a Bangladeshi-American artist, lawyer, and activist whose work spans performance, painting, film, photography, printmaking, and interdisciplinary projects. Her solo projects and performance/installations have been presented at the Brooklyn Museum, Art Asia Miami, Twelve Gates Gallery, the Bangladesh National Museum, the DUMBO Arts Festival, (e)merge art fair, SELECT Art Fair Miami, the Smithsonian Asia Pacific American Center, and many other venues. Bose currently lives and works in Washington, D.C. and Bangladesh. She studied art at Wesleyan University (USA) and Santiniketan (India) and has a law degree from Columbia University (USA). She lived in Paris from 2006-2010 and had solo and duo exhibitions at Galerie Deborah Zafman and UNESCO and was selected for the 2010 Prix Marin Exhibition. Bose has received numerous commissions and awards, including four grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (through the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts) and a 2015 commissioned performance for Nuit Blanche DC.

She is the creator of STORYTELLING WITH SARIS, a longterm collaborative art and advocacy project with her ancestral village of Katakhali, Bangladesh. In December 2015, Bose partnered with the International Centre on Climate and Development to create a climate awareness workshop in Katakhali, Bangladesh. As an artist originating from Katakhali, Bose brings her history into contemporary art, translating these experiences into immersive site-based work. Her heritage and community may drown under the Indian Ocean.

Anju Chaudhuri:

Born in Calcutta, India to a family of Bengali intellectuals enamored of tradition, Anju Chaudhuri lives and works in Paris. She grew up in India, nurtured by the Hindu mythology that permeates daily life, and her many journeys between the sea and the mountains. After receiving a diploma in painting in Calcutta, she left at age 18 to study at St Martin’s School of Art in London, then continued at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, and then in Amsterdam. Chauduri became a master printmaker, learning this art by working side by side with Stanley William Hayter (Atelier 17, Paris). She is renowned internationally for her paintings, prints, drawings, watercolors, and hand-made paper.

She takes her main inspiration from nature and the five elements: air, fire, water, earth, and aether. She has felt increasingly alarmed by the disruption of nature by man and has begun creating works responding to climate change. She has exhibited extensively in France and internationally and received numerous awards and commissions. Her works can be found in the collections of several museums throughout the world, including Ville de Paris, Asia Society (NY), Bronx Museum (NY), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), and National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi).

SUBSISTANCE

The Window vous convie au SUBSISTANCE, un projet de l’artiste activiste Monica Jahan Bose, en collaboration avec Anju Chaudhuri et des autres habitants de Paris. Commissaire de l’événement : Catherine Bay. 1^er au 8 juin 2019.  Finissage/performance 8 juin, 2019.  Pendant le finissage, Monica Jahan Bose présentera une performance en collaboration avec Nirina Lune.

SUBSISTANCE interroge les concepts de besoin et de consommation, ainsi que l’impact que ces derniers ont sur le changement climatique et la sécurité alimentaire, notamment dans les zones côtières, particulièrement vulnérables. Tandis que les populations les plus nanties consomment beaucoup trop de tout – y compris des quantités astronomiques de combustibles fossiles – une grande partie de la population mondiale subsiste avec le minimum vital. Le terme « subsistance » signifie « minimum nécessaire pour vivre » : dans l’« agriculture de subsistance », l’agriculteur vit uniquement de ce qu’il cultive et de ce qu’il pêche.

L’artiste Monica Jahan Bose, une américaine d’origine bangladaise, sera en résidence à la galerie The Window du 1^er au 8 juin 2019. En collaboration avec des artistes, des acteurs de l’environnement et le grand public, elle soulèvera des questions primordiales à la survie de l’humanité : Quels sont nos véritables besoins ? Que pouvons-nous faire pour répondre aux crises du changement de climat et à l’insécurité alimentaire croissante, partout dans le monde ? Est-il possible de réduire radicalement notre consommation ? Que pouvons-nous faire autour de nous, en tant qu’individus? Comment pouvons-nous agir auprès de nos gouvernements pour les inciter à nous soutenir plus ? Face au désistement des USA aux Accords de Paris, que pouvons-nous faire pour continuer d’avancer ? Quel rôle peuvent jouer les artistes face au changement climatique ? Est-ce un sujet que l’on doit introduire dans notre quotidien ?

Bose travaille avec des communautés partout dans le monde, dont des fermières du Bangladesh, qui luttent pour la survie face au changement climatique. Le changement climatique génère d’importantes baisses des rendements de riz et des légumes nécessaires à la survie, en raison de la salinisation des sols et de l’instabilité du climat. De même, il bouleverse les rendements de pêche – à cause du réchauffement des eaux – ainsi que les productions d’oeufs, de produits laitiers et de viande, car de nombreux animaux sont décimés par les orages, qui sont de plus en plus violents et de plus en plus fréquents.

SUBSISTANCE consistera en une occupation et en l’« activation » de l’espace de la galerie The Window et les rues alentour seront animées par des vidéos et des oeuvres de Bose et Chaudhuri : installations, spectacles, conversations publiques, le tout culminant le 8 juin avec un repas partagé. 

Monica Jahan Bose:  Née en Angleterre du parents bengalis, citoyenne du Bangladesh et des États-Unis, Monica Jahan Bose est une artiste, avocate et activiste. Les moyens d’expression utilisés dans son oeuvre sont nombreux: peinture, film, photo, gravure, performance, et son approche est pluridisciplinaire. Dans cet esprit, elle tente de marier l’art et la politique. Elle a eu des expositions ou a fait des installations au Brooklyn Museum, Art Asia Miami, le Twelve Gates Gallery, la Musée nationale du Bangladesh, the DUMBO Arts Festival, (e)merge art fair, SELECT Art Fair Miami, Smithsonian Asia Pacific American Center, entre autres. Actuellement, Bose vit et travaille entre Washington, D.C. et le Bangladesh. Elle a fait ses études à l’Université de Wesleyan (USA) ainsi qu’au centre artistique renommé du Santiniketan (Inde) et a reçu son diplôme en droit à l’Université de Columbia (USA). Elle a vécu à Paris de 2006–2010 et, pendant cette période, a fait des expositions personelles à la Galerie Deborah Zafman ainsi qu’à l’UNESCO, et elle fut sélectionnée pour l’exposition du Prix Marin en 2010. L’oeuvre de Bose a été reconnu par de nombreuses entités. Elle a reçu sept bourses de la part de la DC Commission on the arts and humanities (par le biais du U.S. National Endowment for the Arts) et elle a crée une performance pour la Nuit blanche Washington DC (2015). Elle est la créatrice de Storytelling with Saris, un projet artistique collaboratif mené avec son village ancestral de Katakhali au Bangladesh, mariant ensemble son histoire avec l’art contemporain pour attirer l’attention sur le fait que son héritage et son village est en danger de se noyer sous l’Océan Indien.

Anju Chaudhuri: Née à Calcutta (Inde) d’une famille d’intellectuels bengalis attachés à la tradition, Anju Chaudhuri vit et travaille a Paris. En Inde elle s’est nourrie des histoires de la mythologie hindoue qui baigne sa vie quotidienne, et par ses nombreux voyages entre mer et montagne. Après son diplôme de peinture à Calcutta, elle part très jeune étudier à la St-Martin School of Art à Londres, puis aux Beaux Arts à Paris et ensuite à Amsterdam. Maître de la gravure, Anju Chauduri a appris cet art aux côtés de Stanley William Hayter (Alelier 17, à Paris).Elle est connue pour ses peintures, gravures, aquarelles, dessins, et papiers.De ses nombreuses rencontres, elle a gardé le goût des amitiés profondes, des rencontres dans tous pays et continue – depuis Paris où elle a choisi de s’installer – à aller de Berlin à Amsterdam rencontrer des peintres, ses pairs, trouver des médiums, vivre en un mot « en Peinture ».Elle puise son inspiration dans la Nature et dans les 5 éléments : air, feu, eau, terre, éther. Au cours des dernières années, elle a commencé à se préoccuper du dérèglement de la nature par l’homme et a commence à créer des oeuvres autour du sujet du réchauffement planétaire. Primée de nombreuses fois, elle a fait maintes expositions, en France ainsi qu’à l’étranger. Ses oeuvres se trouvent dans les collections de nombre de musées dans le monde, comme Asia Society (NY), Ville de Paris, Bronx Museum (NY), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), et National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi). 

SUSTENANCE: Monica Jahan Bose and Anju Chaudhuri

Curator:  Dawne Langford

Exhibition dates:  September 5-21, 2019

Opening reception: Thursday, September 5, 2019, 6-8 pm

Closing and artists’ talk:  Saturday, September 21, 2-4 pm

Gallery hours: Monday-Friday 8 am – 6 pm

Walkthrough tour of exhibition on Mondays and Fridays, noon to 2 pm (September 9, 13, 16, 20) and by request.

SUSTENANCE presents the compelling work in printmaking, drawing, and painting of Paris-based artist Anju Chaudhuri and DC-based artist Monica Jahan Bose. Bose learned etching from Chaudhuri, a master printmaker and painter, and the two have been in dialogue for over 10 years. Chaudhuri’s abstract organic images and undulating strokes speak to nature, in balance and disrupted. Bose uses bold lines, symbolic objects, and the iconic sari to refer to the cycle of life and the crisis of climate change.

This is the first exhibition in DC of the internationally-acclaimed Anju Chaudhuri. The exhibition is supported by a Sister Cities Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts).

CLICK FOR LINK TO PRESS RELEASE

Anju Chaudhuri: Born in 1941 in Kolkata, India to a family of Bengali intellectuals enamored of tradition, Anju Chaudhuri lives and works in Paris. She grew up in India, nurtured by the Hindu mythology that permeates daily life, and her many journeys between the sea and the mountains. After receiving a diploma in painting in Kolkata, she left at age 18 to study at St Martin’s School of Art in London, then continued at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, and then in Amsterdam. Chaudhuri became a master printmaker, learning this art by working side by side with Stanley William Hayter (Atelier 17, Paris). She is renowned internationally for her paintings, prints, drawings, watercolors, and hand-made paper.

She takes her main inspiration from nature and the five elements: air, fire, water, earth, and aether. She has felt increasingly alarmed by the disruption of nature by man and has begun creating works responding to climate change. She has exhibited extensively in France and internationally and received numerous awards and commissions. Her works can be found in the collections of several museums throughout the world, including Ville de Paris, Asia Society (NY), Bronx Museum (NY), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), and National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi).

Monica Jahan Bose: Born in Britain, Monica Jahan Bose is a Bangladeshi-American artist and activist whose work spans painting, film, photography, printmaking, performance, and interdisciplinary projects. Her solo projects and performance/installations have been presented at such venues as the Brooklyn Museum, UNESCO, Art Asia Miami, Twelve Gates Gallery, the Bangladesh National Museum, the DUMBO Arts Festival, (e)merge art fair, SELECT Art Fair Miami, the Smithsonian Asia Pacific American Center, and Civilian Art Projects. In 2019, she created the massive public art project WRAPture, covering five buildings with collaborative saris.  She has received numerous grants and commissions.  She is the creator of STORYTELLING WITH SARIS, a longterm collaborative art and advocacy project with her ancestral village of Katakhali, Bangladesh.  She studies art at Wesleyan University and Santiniketan (India) and has a law degree from Columbia Law School.  She currently lives and works in Washington DC.  

Image:  Anju Chaudhuri,Trees (detail), watercolor and drawing on paper.

In 2018 and 2019, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists announced that the Doomsday Clock had reached “2 minutes to midnight.” Since 1947, the Clock has been a symbol for how close we are to a man-made disaster, where midnight is a point of no returInn. n of Atomic Scientists announced that the Doomsday Clock had reached “2 minutes to midnight.” Since 1947, the Clock has been a symbol for how close we are to a man-made disaster, where midnight is a point of no return. 

Join us for an interactive outdoor co-creation lab, to gather with community and ask, challenge, & explore: what is two minutes to midnight for all of us? And what can we do about it?

Two Minutes/Two Degrees  

Monica Jahan Bose, Artist & Climate Change Activist

Join Monica in a space of resilience, learning, and healing with handwoven saris from Bangladesh. We’ll create a multilingual collaborative sari with your promises, hopes, and fears about climate change as we work together to cool down our planet and keep the global temperature increase below 2° celsius (or hopefully even within 1.5° celsius).

Please support small eco-empowerment projects in Bangladesh that empower women and girls.   Here it he official invitation.  The women of Katakhali are part of the Storytelling with Saris project.                                           

October 6, 2019

Dear Friends,

This year we reached an important milestone of 35 years!  Please join us for Samhati’s 35th Anniversary Dinner and Auction on Saturday, November 9, 2019, 6:00 to 9:30 pm, at the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 6301 River Road, Bethesda, MD 20817. Dinner will be served at approximately 6:30 pm.

Founded in 1984, Samhati is the longest-running organization of Bangladeshi women in the United States.  We design and support small projects – focused on education, health, and environmental sustainability – to improve the lives of impoverished women and families in Bangladesh.  Samhati is tax exempt (IRS ID Number 52-1390261). As an all-volunteer organization with negligible overhead, Samhati can direct approximately 90% of your contributions to needy families. 

• If you donate $75, it will provide a one-year scholarship to ensure that a middle or high school child stays in school and does not have to work.   
• A donation of $100 will provide adult literacy or vocational classes for a village woman, who in turn will be able to better care for her family. 
• A donation of $500 will fund our health clinic in Katakhali village for one month, providing care for the entire Barobaishdia Island of 27,000 people.
• Your gift of $1000 will fund climate adaptation training for 30 villagers in Katakhali.

Hundreds of women, children, and families – and entire communities- have been transformed by Samhati’s work. Our focus on literacy has created leadership from within to maintain and grow our projects. Samhati has provided cyclone relief and climate adaptation training, established the first women’s shelter in Bangladesh, and developed eco-empowerment projects in villages. We are providing educational scholarships to discourage child marriage.   And our board now includes a new generation of leaders. Your support makes all this possible.  Please send in your donations and join us on November 9.

With immense gratitude,

Noorjahan Bose and the Samhati board and advisors

The Tides/La Marea: Storytelling with Saris

by Monica Jahan Bose

Curator: Simona Amelotti

December 5-12, 2019, from 10 am to 8 pm everyday except Mondays  (free admission)

MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, Via Nizza, 138, 00198 Roma, Italy

 At the red colored “Area Incontri” in the middle of atrium of museum — upper level (floor 1).

The tide is rising, fires are burning, food decreasing.  THE TIDES, by Bangladeshi-American artist and climate activist Monica Jahan Bose, is a site-specific installation and climate lab, using collaborative art, film, writing, testimonials, and performance featuring hand-women cotton saris from Bangladesh. Bose invites the public to join her in writing and drawing on a sari which will later be worn as a garment by a coastal woman from Bose’s ancestral village on Barobaishdia Island, Bangladesh.  Bose uses blue saris to represent water, the rising tides, and the circle of life.  She seeks to physically and emotionally connect people around the world on the issue of climate change.  Since 2012, Bose’s collaborative project STORYTELLING WITH SARIS has traveled around the world, collecting over 1,000 written climate pledges to reduce carbon footprint. 

Schedule of events:

Thursday, December 5 from 1 – 8 pm: Join the artist to co-create the floating climate lab in the upper level red floating platform.

Friday December 6 from 11 am – 8 pm:  Join the artist in the upper level red floating climate lab for climate art on a sari and climate testimonials.

Saturday December 7 from 4 – 8 pm:  Join the artist in the upper level red floating climate lab for climate art on a sari and climate testimonials.

Sunday December 8 from 4 – 6 pm:  Conference — film screening, talk, and discussion in AUDITORIUM (Level 0).

Tuesday December 10 from 4 – 8 pm: Join the artist in the upper level red floating climate lab for climate art on a sari and climate testimonials.

Wednesday December 11 from 4 – 8 pm:  Performance co-creation workshop – Join the artist in the upper level red floating climate lab to plan and co- create the final performance.  

Thursday December 12 from 5:30 – 6:30 pm: Performance in the lobby/atrium.  (Come at 5 pm to the upper level climate lab if you want to join in).

Contact: Monica Jahan Bose monicajahanbose@gmail.com  +1202-509-6282 Whatsapp

Simona Amelotti  simona.amelotti@gmail.com +33687321519 Whatsapp

monicajahanbose.com    storytellingwithsaris.com    Instagram: @storywithsari @mjbose 

Born in Britain, Monica Jahan Bose is a Bangladeshi-American artist and activist whose work spans painting, film, photography, printmaking, performance, and interdisciplinary projects. Her solo projects and performance/installations have been presented at such venues as the Brooklyn Museum, UNESCO (Paris), Art Asia Miami, Twelve Gates Gallery, the Bangladesh National Museum, the DUMBO Arts Festival (NY), (e)merge art fair, SELECT Art Fair Miami, and the Smithsonian Asia Pacific American Center (Honolulu). In 2018, she created the large-scale installation FOOTPRINT in Athens as part of the UNESCO World Book Capital celebration at the invitation of the Athen’s Mayor’s Office. In 2019, she created the massive public art project WRAPture, covering five Washington DC buildings with collaborative saris, funded and commissioned by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, through the National Endowment on the Arts. She has received numerous grants, awards, and public art commissions. WRAPture was featured by the Smithsonian in its magazine and a short film. She is the creator of STORYTELLING WITH SARIS, a longterm collaborative art and advocacy project with her ancestral village of Katakhali, Bangladesh. STORYTELLING WITH SARIS has traveled to 10 US states and five countries, engaging thousands of people. Bose studied art at Wesleyan University and Santiniketan (India) and has a law degree from Columbia Law School. She currently lives and works in Washington DC.

The project is supported in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Photo credit:  Aviva Cashmira; copyright 2019 Monica Jahan Bose, performance still from “The Tides,” Brittany, France, 2019

Get paid to make art and learn about climate change!

Artist and climate activist Monica Jahan Bose and mulimedia artist and video journalist Robin Bell are launching WARMING WATERS, a new temporary public art project, and need your help to create it! WARMING WATERS will drape the C&O Canal wall in Georgetown behind Dean and Deluca with massive colorful cotton fabric saris from Bangladesh covered with printmaking and writing about climate change by residents of Washington and Katakhali Village, Bangladesh along with video projections on the saris and trees in the evenings. The temporary installation will be for four consecutive days around Earth Day 2020, from April 22-25. Monica is collaborating with community members to create these saris.

We seek paid assistants* (at least age 14) to sign up for the workshops. Participants will learn woodblock printing, create artwork that will be displayed, and discuss and learn about the effects of climate change.

SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION WILL BE PROVIDED.  ALL OTHER LANGUAGES WILL BE ACCOMMODATED IF YOU REQUEST.  The space is wheelchair accessible on the ground level.  Metro:  Anacostia (Green line) and many buses including Circulator.

*Spots are LIMITED. We will be working on 2 saris per workshop and only have spots for 12-15 people each time. Please email storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com if you need to release your reservation. You must arrrive on time and fully participate to receive payment.

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This project is funded by a Public Art Building Communities Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The project is also supported by our community partners the Anacostia Arts Center and the Mohona Cooperative, Bangladesh.

It’s Leap Day!   Get paid to make art and learn about climate change!

Artist and climate activist Monica Jahan Bose and mulimedia artist and video journalist Robin Bell are launching WARMING WATERS, a new temporary public art project, and need your help to create it! WARMING WATERS will drape the C&O Canal wall in Georgetown behind Dean and Deluca with massive colorful cotton fabric saris from Bangladesh covered with printmaking and writing about climate change by residents of Washington and Katakhali Village, Bangladesh along with video projections on the saris and trees in the evenings. The temporary installation will be for four consecutive days around Earth Day 2020, from April 22-25. Monica is collaborating with community members to create these saris.

We seek paid assistants* (at least age 14) to sign up for the workshops. Participants will learn woodblock printing, create artwork that will be displayed, and discuss and learn about the effects of climate change.

AT YOUR REQUEST, SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION AND ALL OTHER LANGUAGES WILL BE ACCOMMODATED IF YOU REQUEST.  The space is wheelchair accessible on the ground level.  Metro:  Woodley Park –
Zoo (Red line) and many buses including Circulator.  Please email storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com for accommodations.

*Spots are LIMITED. We will be working on 2 saris per workshop and only have spots for 12-15 people each time. Please email storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com if you need to release your reservation. You must arrrive on time and fully participate to receive payment.

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This project is funded by a Public Art Building Communities Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The project is also supported by our community partners the Anacostia Arts Center, the Adams Morgan Community Center, and the Mohona Cooperative, Bangladesh.

Get paid to make art and learn about climate change!

Artist and climate activist Monica Jahan Bose and mulimedia artist and video journalist Robin Bell are launching WARMING WATERS, a new temporary public art project, and need your help to create it! WARMING WATERS will drape the C&O Canal wall in Georgetown behind Dean and Deluca with massive colorful cotton fabric saris from Bangladesh covered with printmaking and writing about climate change by residents of Washington and Katakhali Village, Bangladesh along with video projections on the saris and trees in the evenings. The temporary installation will be for four consecutive days around Earth Day 2020, from April 22-25. Monica is collaborating with community members to create these saris.

We seek paid assistants* (at least age 15) to sign up for the workshops. Participants will learn woodblock printing, create artwork that will be displayed, and discuss and learn about the effects of climate change.

SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION WILL BE PROVIDED IF REQUESTED.  ALL OTHER LANGUAGES WILL BE ACCOMMODATED IF YOU REQUEST.  The space is wheelchair accessible and there is an elevator.  

*Spots are LIMITED. We will be working on 2 saris per workshop and only have spots for 15 people each time. Please email storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com if you need to release your reservation. You must arrive on time and fully participate to receive payment.

—

This project is funded by a Public Art Building Communities Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The project is also supported by our community partners the Anacostia Arts Center and the Mohona Cooperative, Bangladesh.