Events
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.
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.
Please join Washington-DC based artist Monica Jahan Bose and Paris-based musician/songwriter Nirina Lune on Facebook Live for their conversation titled “SLOW: Responding to the Pandemic.” You do not need a Facebook account to join. It will be June 30th at 10 am EST, which is 4 pm in France, 3 pm GMT, and 8 pm in Bangladesh. Add to your calendar by clicking here.
Due to the pandemic, in lieu of meeting in person and creating a performance in Washington DC, Nirina and Monica are creating a music/sound piece called “Slow/Lent,” inspired by their times of isolation during the pandemic. SLOW responds to the beauty and benefits of slowing down, looking deeper, and shifting our lifestyles toward a more sustainable world. Please join as the two artists discuss their concept and build this musical piece. You are invited to be part of the project in process and to submit questions via Facebook Live. “Slow/Lent” will be released in September in conjunction with a discussion between Nirina and Monica, which will broadcast live on radio and social media platforms. This project is supported by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
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.
Nirina Lune: Born in 1983 in Paris, France to a mother with roots in Madagascar, Nirina Lune is a French-Malagasy performer based in Paris. Her music incorporates soul, blues and experimental influences to envelop the listener like the movements of sands, where siren voices mingle with telluric beats. She explores the facets of feminine power and sensuality to transcend her heartbreaks. In 2019, she released “Femme Fountain” an album of songs that she produced and wrote herself. She has performed her music in numerous venues in France. In 2019, she co-created and performed a collaborative performance WATER RESISTANCE at the gallery The Window and the adjacent streets with artist Monica Jahan Bose. Dozens of people joined the performance, including people in the street. Nirina is bilingual in English and French and has been invited to run workshopson writing and performance.
This is a notice to the public that a proposed public art project by artists/fabricators Monica Jahan Bose and Robin Bell called CONCRETE DREAMS for April/May 2021 on the facade and sidewalk of the DC Arts Center in Adams Morgan will be presented at a public hearing on July 11 at the ANC1C (Adams Morgan) virtual meeting. Residents and business in the area are invited to join and give feedback at the zoom meeting on Wednesday, July 1, 2020 @ 7:00 pm. This is only a proposal and will not be realized unless funding is granted. All details at this link.
We are finalizing the sewing of 22 saris for the WARMING WATERS installation! We cannot meet in person for the sewing circle so we will meet via zoom. Please email storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com if you would like to join the meeting and find out more about the upcoming installation in Georgetown on July 22-25, 2020.
ASL interpretation provided.
