Events
Artist and climate activist Monica Jahan Bose and multimedia artist and video journalist Robin Bell present WARMING WATERS, a temporary public art project, draping the C&O Canal wall in Georgetown behind Blue Bottle Coffee 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 in the evening. The temporary installation will be for three consecutive days from July 23-25, 2020 and is open for viewing from sunrise until 10 pm. The projections will be in the evenings from 9-10 pm, weather permitting. All visitors to the installation must wear masks and practice social distancing. We will have circles marked for households to sit together separated from others. Please bring a blanket if you wish. Limited tickets available for the projections each night. Please order here.
Dedication: Thursday, July 23 at 8 pm, followed by projections. ASL interpretation will be provided. Contact us for other languages or accommodations. Stay tuned for more details. Do wear a mask or face covering if you come to view this outdoor installation and maintain six-foot distance from people who not part of your household.
We will also be livestreaming the Dedication and the projections at https://www.facebook.com/StorytellingWithSaris/live
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 on the C&O Canal wall in Georgetown. 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.
WHAT IS WARMING WATERS? It’s a climate justice art collaboration involving dozens of members of the public. 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.
I am very excited to announce RENEW, my book of collaborative public art and poetry about climate change, which will be out on September 12. The book is over 100 pages in full color, designed by Erik Moe, and has images and poetry from the public art projects WRAPture and Warming Waters and recent installations and performances in New York, Paris, Rome, Miami Beach, and Katakhali, Bangladesh.
We will have a “Driveway Salon and Book Launch” in DC in my driveway on September 12, 2020 at 7 pm. This is in lieu of an exhibition that was planned for this fall.
We will show exclusive new videos from performances in Paris and Italy. Pick a 30 minute visit slot. Only 15 tickets per 30 minute slot. Raindate: September 13.
Please preorder your signed books now. The book will have a limited run of 250 copies at $30. In addition, I will create 50 pieces with a special hand-cut cover with sari insert at $50 each. Our community poetry contributors will receive complimentary copies of the book.
You may pre-pay by venmo @monica-bose (preferred), CashApp $monicaartivist, Paypal monicajahanbose@gmail.com, or by sending a check made out to Monica Jahan Bose, 2017 Belmont Rd NW, Washington DC 20009. If you would like the book mailed to you, please add $5 shipping and handling. Thank you so much for supporting this climate justice project.
This project is supported in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
Image above: Photo credit Ben Droz; Rising Up, performance still, Miami Beach, Florida; ©2018, Monica Jahan Bose.
Image below: Photo credit Nandita Ahmed; La Marea, performance still, Rome, Italy; ©2019, Monica Jahan Bose.
By popular demand, we are doing another Driveway Art Salon while the weather is nice!
This time we are screening the freshly made final cut of “WRAPture: A Public Art Project,” which includes a stunning original soundtrack by Sonia Herrero. The film was edited by Paris Preston and features many of the community participants in DC and Katakhali Village, Bangladesh. Sonia and Monica will be present to answer questions about the film and soundtrack. We will also have available the book RENEW, which contains many images and poem from WRAPture.
Pick the early show from 7-8 pm or late show from 8-9 pm. Only 15 tickets per screening.
This is a Covid-conscious socially-distanced event and you must wear a mask and cover your nose and mouth and chin and maintain a six-foot distance from those not in your group/household.
This project is supported in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
Join us for a radio conversation hosted by Karen Baker & Anthony Leonard and the launch of the new musical piece Slow/Lent/আস্তে/Miadana. Washington-DC based artist Monica Jahan Bose and Paris-based musician Nirina Lune have been collaborating on a musical piece over the last few months. Monica is a Bangladeshi-American artist and climate activist whose work spans performance, painting, film, printmaking, and interdisciplinary projects. Nirina is a French-Malagasy singer, songwriter, and performer whose music incorporates soul, blues and experimental influences to explore the facets of feminine power. Due to the pandemic, in lieu of a live performance in Washington DC, Nirina and Monica have been collaborating online to creating a music/sound piece called “Slow/Lent/আস্তে/Miadana,” inspired by their times of isolation during the pandemic. Slow/Lent/আস্তে/Miadana responds to the beauty and benefits of slowing down, looking deeper, and shifting our lifestyles toward a more sustainable world.
Update October 9: Here is the link to the song.
This project is supported a Sister Cities Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Washington DC and Paris, France are sister cities and this project enhances cultural and artistic collaboration and connection between our cities.
Please join us at the Arts Club of Washington for the sixth event of it’s film and lecture series “Democracy, the Voting, and the Rule of Law.” Monica Jahan Bose will be the featured speaker and will talk about her socially engaged art practice and her ongoing projects with the nonprofit Arts & Democracy. This will be an in person outdoor socially distant event.
Here is the full PRESS RELEASE.
Register HERE to save a seat.
Curated and hosted by local EMMY Awarded Producer, Todd Clark, this timely series will provide its
audiences with a weekly brief panel presentation and film screening that will showcase inspirational,
entertaining, and educational classic American films whose storylines and characters will help its
audiences to explore, celebrate and reaffirm the urgency and historic legacy of informed civic
engagement and the protection of cherished constitutional liberties. Prior to the film screening will be a
brief presentation by a representative from a leading constitutional and voting rights advocacy
organization who will describe their efforts to preserve, defend and promote civic engagement and the
right and ability to vote.
Monica Jahan Bose, Artist, & Member, Arts & Democracy. Monica Jahan Bose is a Bangladeshi-American
artist, lawyer, and activist whose work blends art, policy, and science. She uses participatory installation,
film, printmaking, painting, advocacy, and performance to speak to women’s experiences. Since 2016,
Monica has worked with Arts & Democracy on several long-term socially engaged art and culture projects
in Brooklyn, NY, and she will be the lead artist on a new Arts & Democracy project this spring, funded by
the Asian Women’s Giving Circle. Arts & Democracy links arts and culture, participatory democracy, and
social justice. Monica shares Arts & Democracy’s goal of cultural organizing as a vehicle for increasing
participation in civic life. Monica lives and works in Washington DC. Every election, Monica dedicates
hundreds of volunteer hours to voter registration, getting out the vote, and voter protection at the polls
in swing states.
Wag the Dog. Two weeks prior to reelection, the United States president lands in the middle of a sex
scandal. In need of outside help to quell the situation, presidential adviser Winifred Ames (Anne Heche)
enlists the expertise of spin doctor Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro), who decides a distraction is the best
course of action. Brean approaches Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) to help him
fabricate a war in Albania — and once underway, the duo has the media entirely focused on the war.
For more information: Todd Clark (Todd@theDCPlace.com) 202-236-8468
We are very excited to announce new workshops for the fall, winter, and spring. The public is invited to join zoom and outdoor workshops led by Monica Jahan Bose and co-facilitated by artist Maps Glover in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 to compose poetry and make art on themes of the pandemic, race, gender, and climate justice. Thursday’s workshop will involve discussions about the pandemic and the upcoming elections, listening to a new sound art piece, and responding with art, writing, and poetry.
Please join us for an in-person first fall poetry and art workshop. We will meet on the sidewalk in front of DCAC and chairs will be provided. Future workshops will be mostly online through Zoom. Those who fully participate in at least two workshops will receive a small stipend. If you do not have access to internet or devices to continue on Zoom, please let us know by emailing storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com.
This is a Covid-conscious socially-distanced event and you must wear a mask and cover your nose and mouth and chin and maintain a six-foot distance from those not in your group/household.
Metro: Woodley Park-Zoo (Red Line); bus 90, 96, 42 and many more.
This project is funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
About this Event
A new module series for educators about making art and global interconnections.
What meaningful interconnections can we make with students in our classrooms, and our homes, about important topics around the world?
How can educators and artists collaborate to help our students make these interconnections?
Why is it important for students to think about how they are interconnected with the world?
The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access is proud to present Making Art + Global Interconnections, a new module series for K12 educators seeking new ideas for the classroom that weave together the processes of art-making and understanding our interconnections to topics and issues around the world.
Over the course of the summer and fall of 2020, four teams of educators, Asian American and Pacific Islander artists and an art historian came together to learn more about each other’s’ lives, why they teach, why they create art or study art, what drives their practice, and what is important to them right now. Through these collaborative conversations, ideas for new art-making lessons emerged that entwine the educator’s, the artist’s, and the art historian’s practice and vision, while centering opportunities for students to reflect on their own global interconnections through art making.
We are proud to share this collaborative project–created by women educators, artists and an art historian–with you. This project received support from the Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Initiative.
On November 12, 2020 at 6:00pm EST, join one of our teams, Educator Raksha Joshi and Artist Monica Jahan Bose, as they introduce their arts lesson, “Storytelling Scroll on Identity and Community.” During this one-hour webinar, they will share their process in creating this lesson for educators, what they learned as they piloted this lesson with students, and how you can do this lesson with the students in your life. The lesson and an accompanying Smithsonian Learning Lab collection will be available to use and download on the day of the webinar.
A Zoom Meeting link will be emailed to you via Eventbrite on November 12, 2020 before our program begins.
We look forward to seeing you!
If you are an educator and have 5-10 minutes to spare, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center would love to learn more about your experience using digital resources in your teaching. Your response will help the Center develop a future educator-centered digital resource about Asian Pacific American stories: https://si.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2oCKxg5c8uV4H2t
Please join us for a Zoom poetry and art workshop for the public art project CONCRETE DREAMS. The workshop is led by Monica Jahan Bose and co-facilitated by artist Maps Glover. Future workshops will be mostly on Zoom. Those who fully participate in at least two workshops will receive a small stipend if age 15 or older. If you do not have access to internet or devices to participate on Zoom, please let us know by emailing storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com.
What is CONCRETE DREAMS? It’s a temporary public art project that involves the public in Washington DC and Katakhali Village, Bangladesh. CONCRETE DREAMS is led by Monica Jahan Bose in collaboration with light artist Robin Bell and will drape cotton saris and project images and poetry on the facade of the DC Arts Center, 2438 18th Street, NW, Washington DC. The duration of the installation will be three days in May 2021. There will also be small movable sculptures or “steles” on the sidewalk with poetry phrases written on them. The public is invited to join zoom and outdoor workshops led by Monica Jahan Bose and co-facilitated by artist Maps Glover in Fall/Winter 2020 and Spring 2021 to compose poetry and art on themes of the pandemic, race, gender, and climate justice. These poems will be placed on the saris, used in projections, and in the movable sculptures. All materials will be supplied.
ASL interpretation provided. Please email storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com if you need ASL or other language interpretation or any other accommodation.
This project is supported by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities’ Public Art Building Communities Grant Program.
Please join us for a Zoom poetry and art workshop for the public art project CONCRETE DREAMS. The workshop is led by Monica Jahan Bose and co-facilitated by artist Maps Glover. Future workshops will be mostly on Zoom. Those who fully participate in at least two workshops will receive a small stipend if age 15 or older. If you do not have access to internet or devices to participate on Zoom, please let us know by emailing storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com.
What is CONCRETE DREAMS? It’s a temporary public art project that involves the public in Washington DC and Katakhali Village, Bangladesh. CONCRETE DREAMS is led by Monica Jahan Bose in collaboration with light artist Robin Bell and will drape cotton saris and project images and poetry on the facade of the DC Arts Center, 2438 18th Street, NW, Washington DC. The duration of the installation will be three days in May 2021. There will also be small movable sculptures or “steles” on the sidewalk with poetry phrases written on them. The public is invited to join zoom and outdoor workshops led by Monica Jahan Bose and co-facilitated by artist Maps Glover in Fall/Winter 2020 and Spring 2021 to compose poetry and art on themes of the pandemic, race, gender, and climate justice. These poems will be placed on the saris, used in projections, and in the movable sculptures. All materials will be supplied.
ASL interpretation provided. Please email storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com if you need ASL or other language interpretation or any other accommodation.
This project is supported by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities’ Public Art Building Communities Grant Program.
Join us for the virtual launch and discussion of RENEW, Monica Jahan Bose’s artist book of collaborative public art and poetry about climate change. The book is over 100 pages in full color, designed by Erik Moe, and has images and poetry from the public art projects WRAPture and Warming Waters and recent installations and performances in New York, Paris, Rome, Miami Beach, and Katakhali, Bangladesh.
Presenters : Josheen Oberoi, Leah Stoddard, Purvi Shah, Monica Jahan Bose and more!
You may order signed books by emailing monicajahanbose@gmail.com and paying by venmo @monica-bose or Paypal monicajahanbose@gmail.com or CashApp $monicaartivist. The regular book is $30 (plus $5 postage within US, email to inquire about international postage). In addition, there are 50 signed and numbered limited edition pieces with a special hand-cut cover with sari insert at $50 each (plus $5 postage in US). Thank you so much for supporting this climate justice project. More details here.
Presenter bios:
Josheen Oberoi is a gallerist and curator based out of New York. She is currently VP and Director at DAG, an international gallery focused on South Asian modern art. Prior to this, she worked as Director at Tyler Rollins Fine Art, with a focus on contemporary Southeast Asian art; Saffronart, as a Specialist in South Asian Art; and Bodhi Art as a gallerist and Associate Curator. She has worked for Miditech, where she helped produce documentary series on Indian art and architecture and other projects for the BBC. She has an MA in medieval Indian history from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and an MA in South Asian art history from Florida State University.
Leah Stoddard has curated over 100 exhibitions, including 12 large-scale projects for the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia, where she was Deputy Director of Exhibitions and the Adjunct Curator of Contemporary Art (2011-14). In addition, she was the Director of Second Street Gallery, a nonprofit artspace in Charlottesville, Virginia (2000-2008) and the first Development Director of the McGuffey Art Center (2017-18). She is an independent curator, artist advisor, and teaches at James Madison University, including courses in Museum Studies and Renaissance to Modern Art. Stoddard has an MA in art history/criticism from Stony Brook University and a BA in art history from Carleton College.
Purvi Shah’s favorite art practices are her sparkly eyeshadow, raucous laughter, and seeking justice. She won the inaugural SONY South Asian Social Service Excellence Award for leadership fighting violence against women. Her new book of poetry, Miracle Marks, explores women, the sacred, and gender & racial equity. Discover more @PurviPoets or https://purvipoets.net/.
Monica Jahan Bose is a Bangladeshi-American artist and activist whose work spans performance, painting, film, photography, printmaking, public art, and interdisciplinary projects. She is the creator of the climate justice art and advocacy project Storytelling with Saris, which is now in its eighth year. She has engaged thousands of people around the world with her installations, performances, workshops, and public art. She has had 20 solo shows, including at the Bangladesh National Museum and the MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome. As an artist originating from Barobaishdia Island, Bangladesh, Bose brings her history into contemporary art. Her heritage and community may drown under the Indian Ocean.
This project is supported in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
