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.

—

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.

Because of Covid-19, we will not be having an in-person film screening on March 31 but instead we will do the event on zoom.  Please signup for this event and we will send you the link for a watch party on March 31.  You can watch the first draft from the comfort of your home and we will have an online q&a afterwarks.  Zoom link https://us04web.zoom.us/j/550440803  meeting id: 550440803

We are going to reschedule the in-person event to June or July — please stay tuned.

Please join us for the preview of the art documentary, “WRAPture: A Public Art Project.” The screening of the director’s cut will be followed by audience feedback and a reception. The film documents a seven-month-long public art project about climate change that takes us from Anacostia DC to a remote island in Bangladesh. WRAPture, led by Bangladeshi-American artist and climate activist Monica Jahan Bose, creates 65 saris on the theme of climate change with over 300 people from DC and Bangladesh and wraps them on five buildings in Anacostia. The diverse participants in Washington DC are all ages and ethnicities. They discuss and learn about climate change and cover saris with woodblock printing, painting, and writing, in solidarity with coastal women farmers in Bangladesh. During the course of the workshops, several participants write and recite original poetry. A community grows out of the project, feeling empowered to address climate change.

This is a free event but seats are limited so please register now on Eventbrite.

Filmakers: Monica Jahan Bose and Paris Preston

Duration: 44 minutes.

Original score: Sonia Maria

The film and project are funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Get paid to make art and learn about climate change!  This workshop will now be online on zoom.  The paid participation is sold out but you can still join and observe on zoom.  The meeting link will be posted soon.  

Artist and climate activist Monica Jahan Bose and multimedia 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.  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 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.

Due to the Covid-19 emergency, we will be doing an online event on April 22 for the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day and postposing the public outdoor events to the summer.  The livestream will be at https://www.facebook.com/StorytellingWithSaris/   Stay tuned for further details.

Artist and climate activist Monica Jahan Bose and multimedia artist and video journalist Robin Bell present WARMING WATERS, a temporary public art project, using 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. 

This temporary public art project combines the communities in Washington DC and Katakhali Village in Bangladesh to fabricate, assemble and drape saris and video projections celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day. Birthed from the ongoing seven-year-old project Storytelling with Saris, these massive blue and white saris will be covered with customized woodblock printmaking, hand-painted images, and writings about climate change.  The installation on the C&O Canal is now postponed to the July 22-25, 2020. 

WHAT MAKES WARMING WATERS SO UNIQUE? It’s 100% wrapped in community engagement and environmental education.  Residents of DC help fabricate the project through a series of workshops, which include printmaking from the women of Katakhali Village. As part of the project, DC residents learn about climate change and renewable energy, and add their own stories to the saris. The projections will show the participants making the saris, highlighting their handwritten climate pledges and art.  WARMING WATERS marries fiber art with new media.

This project is funded by a Public Art Building Communities Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.   Click here for the PRESS RELEASE.