Events
SWIMMING, a temporary public art project by Monica Jahan Bose, explores the deep and essential connections we have to water as our world faces increased flooding, drought, and rising sea levels due to climate change. Participants in DC and Bangladesh join workshops to co-create poetry and art inspired by the healing properties of water and swimming and by inequities in access. Featuring 22 blue Bangladeshi saris arranged to evoke a swimming pool and a massive wave, the exhibit is augmented by a VideoSoundwalk with QR codes that interweave poetry with sounds of water, nature, and music and images of Bose and participants creating, wearing, and interacting with the saris. The project is part of the ongoing climate justice collaboration Storytelling with Saris.
Marie Reed is the former Morgan school, which was desegregated along with the Adams school, giving the name to the Adams Morgan neighborhood. The Marie Reed pool is now being used by DC to teach swimming to children from various schools, a project that aims to redress racial discrimination in access to swimming. SWIMMING is a visual representation of sustainability, inclusion, and resilience and is part of Bose’s ongoing climate justice collaboration Storytelling with Saris.
Lead Artist: Monica Jahan Bose
Curator: Sarah Tanguy
DCPS Collaboration: Valeria Monfrini, Art Teacher, Marie Reed Elementary School
Photography/Livestream: Paris Preston
Sound design & Music: Sonia Herrero
Marketing design/Social media: Jen Saavedra
Installation support: Timotheo Murphy and Maps Glover
Press/media inquiries: Kelly Davidson. Email: info@kellymavenmedia.com. Phone: 301-300-4011
Funded by the DC Commission on the Arts are Humanities, Public Art Building Communities Grant Program.
Community partners: The Adams Morgan Partnership BID, Marie Reed Elementary School & Aquatic Center, The DC Arts Center, Calvary Womens Services, and Moms Clean Air Force.
Exhibition Schedule [All dates weather dependent]:
Location: Marie Reed Plaza, 2201 18th St NW, Washington, DC 20009
Exhibition dates June 6-20, 2024, outdoor exhibition, open 24 hours.
Friday, June 7, 2024 @ 5-8 PM: Opening Event. Dedication, poetry recital, and livestream starting at 6 pm. [We are going with our raindate: June 7]
Saturday, June 8, 2024 @ 3-5 pm: Artist/curator walkthrough talk at site
Tuesday, June 11, 2024 @ 7:30 pm: Walkthrough tour and screening “Swimming” short film as part of Adams Morgan Movie Night (film at dusk).
Saturday, June 15, 2024 @ 5 pm: Performance
Tuesday, June 18, 2024 @ 7:30 pm: Walkthrough tour and screening short film as part of Adams Morgan Movie Night
June 20, 2022 Final Day – Monica will be there from 8-10 pm for photo shoot and dancing under the saris!
Sari art, poetry, and fabrication Washington DC:
Sonja Berry, Elizabeth Brandt, Sherri Gales, Lala Forbes, Rashika Johnson, Philip Mecham, Lia Totty, Hasini Shyamshundar, Isaiah Washington, Kathryn Wichmann, Julia Rosenbaum, Marjorie Thomas, Ashanee Kottage, Maria Crupi, Joel Groomes, Niquida Browne, Nyrabia, Janet Gao, Sam Schmitz, Stephanie Reese, Reese Wilkerson, Rowin Wilkerson, Paris Burton, Hakim, Liam Toohey, Leo Toohey, Elena Sholomitskaya, Anne Simmons, Emilio Ramos, Manuel Ramos, Sofia Maria Ramos, Herschel, Jenia, Estephane Gomez, Alexa Gomez, Thomas Belcher, Ava Belcher, Sarah Christie, Isaac Martin, VEnessa Acham, Sara Akbar, Kayed Akbar, Austin Ray, Ann Farley, Raine Jeff, Isabel Fowlkes, Eleshia Simms-Harris, Neko Harris, and many others.
SWIMMING Bangladesh Team:
Project assistant: Moumita Nabila
Project support and song transcription: Sunetra
Sari artists/singers: Noor Sehera, Nasima, Shahida, Zulekha, Zakia, Parveen, Hawa, Shima, Fatema, Sarbanu, Aleya, Rekha, and many others.
Watch the Livestream of the Dedication:
About Monica Jahan Bose: Monica Jahan Bose is a Bangladeshi-American artist and climate activist whose work spans painting, printmaking, film, performance, and installation. Her socially engaged work highlights the intersection of climate, racial, gender, and economic injustice through co-created workshops, art actions, and temporary installations and performances. She has exhibited her work extensively in the US and internationally (23 solo shows, five public art projecs, numerous group exhibitions, and more than 30 performances) including solo exhibitions at the Bangladesh National Museum and MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art Rome. Her ongoing decade-long collaborative project STORYTELLING WITH SARIS with women farmers from her ancestral island village has traveled to eight countries and 12 US states, engaging thousands of people. Her work has appeared in the Miami Herald, the Washington Post, Art Asia Pacific, the Milwaukee Sentinel, the Honolulu Star Advertiser, the the Japan Times, Prothom Alo and all major newspapers in Bangladesh. The Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum has acquired and group of her paintings, saris, and archival materials for its collection. Monica has a BA in the Practice of Art (Painting) from Wesleyan University, a post-graduate diploma in art from Santiniketan, India, and a JD from Columbia Law School.
About Sarah Tanguy: Washington, DC-based Sarah Tanguy is an independent curator and arts writer, who believes in hands-on, face-to-face collaboration with artists and the power of art to connect with the general public and our lived experience. Many of her projects have explored the intersection of art with such topics as science, food, tools, and books, inspiring new ways to engage the world around us. Recent exhibitions include At One with the Elements, Reveal: The Art of Reimagining Scientific Discovery, and Traces, in Washington, DC; and Synergy Unbound, the last of an ongoing series at the American Center for Physics, College Park, MD. From 2004-2019, Sarah was a curator for Art in Embassies, U.S. Department of State, where she curated over 100 exhibitions and 12 permanent collections featuring U.S. and host country artists for U.S. diplomatic facilities overseas. The daughter of a U.S. diplomat, Tanguy holds a BA in Fine Arts from Georgetown University, and a MA in Art History from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Join the Storytelling with Saris team to help harvest the vegetables from the Nicholson Project neighborhood garden. We helped out in the garden in the spring and and are thrilled to go back to see what has been growing. We will do some earthing exercises with Monica Jahan Bose and work with the gardener in residence, Peter Lewis.
Peter Lewis is an avid gardener, artist, and chef. He has been working with Nicholson Project since 2022 and is the main point of contact for garden activities and distribution during peak growing season. Peter also manages seeds starts and runs the Community Composting Program at Koiner Farm in Silver Spring, MD.
Monica Jahan Bose is a Bangladeshi-American artist and climate activist whose work spans painting, printmaking, film, performance, and public art. Her socially engaged work highlights the intersection of climate, racial, gender, and economic injustice through co-created workshops, art actions, and temporary installations and performances. Bose uses the sari — a precolonial 18-foot-long unstitched garment that is always recycled and never discarded — to represent women’s lives and the cycle of life on our planet. She has exhibited her work extensively in the US and internationally (23 solo shows, numerous group exhibitions, and more than 25 performances) including solo exhibitions at the Bangladesh National Museum and MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art Rome. Her ongoing collaborative project STORYTELLING WITH SARIS with women farmers from her ancestral island village has travelled to 12 US states and eight countries and engaged thousands of people. Her work has appeared in the Miami Herald, the Washington Post, Art Asia Pacific, the Milwaukee Sentinel, the Honolulu Star Advertiser, the Japan Times, and all major newspapers in Bangladesh. She has a BA in the Practice of Art (Painting) from Wesleyan University, a post-graduate Diploma in Art from Santiniketan, India, and a JD from Columbia Law School.
The Nicholson Project is an artist residency program and neighborhood garden in Ward 7’s Fairlawn neighborhood. Its mission is to support, provide opportunities, engage, and amplify artists and creatives from our community and the local artist community—particularly artists of color and those from Ward 7 and 8—while engaging our neighbors through community-based programming. Its vision is to serve as a cultural hub and community anchor celebrating Ward 7’s authentic identity, while infusing new vibrancy into Southeast DC. We hope to inspire others to use similar non-traditional arts and community-centered projects as a pathway toward stronger, more vibrant communities.
Stortyelling with Saris is supported by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
Monica Jahan Bose will be leading a hands-on climate sari workshop for participants in the New Horizons in Conservation Convening organized by the Yale School of the Environment.
Storytelling with Saris is thrilled to be part of this important convening.
https://jedsi.yale.edu/new-horizons-in-conservation
Bangladeshi-American artist and climate activist Monica Jahan Bose will lead a hands-on sari workshop with high school students at Georgetown Day School addressing environmental and gender justice. Participants will discuss strategies for climate action and gender justice and draw, paint, and write on a hand-woven cotton sari from Bangladesh. For over ten years, Bose has been co-creating saris with communities as part of her Storytelling with Saris art and advocacy project. The sari will be used in installations and performances and worn by Bangladeshi women. This is a private workshop for students at the school.
