Events
The Business of Public Art
Friday, January 31, 2025
11 am – 12:30 pm ET
Virtual via Zoom
Join Public Art Coordinator Kerry Kennedy and three art professionals—Monica Jahan Bose, Jessie Himmelrich, and Antoine Williams—as they share their experiences navigating the unique challenges of creating art in the District. From communicating an artist’s vision to writing grant applications, engaging the community, and installing public art, the process demands a diverse and intricate skill set.
Discover what it takes to successfully navigate the Public Art Building Communities (PABC) grant application and bring stunning artworks to life in the Nation’s Capital.
For full details and to RSVP please visit dcarts.dc.gov or grab the direct link from our Linktree in our bio!
Storytelling with Saris workshops will take place in February 2025 in Bangladesh. The workshops will include sari printing, new kantha creations from worn saris from Storytelling with Saris, new song creation, and performance.
Please come to the unveiling of Monica Jahan Bose’s first ceramic sari, called “Rising,” which will be installed in the Kalorama Triangle alley behind her studio. The ceramic tile mural will be mounted on the garage wall of the home of Mary Miller and Dennis Farley. We will have an unveiling celebration on March 9 from 3-5 pm in the alley behind 2015 and 2017 Belmont Rd, NW. Monica’s studio will also be open and there will be a film screening of the performances that inspired the “Rising” ceramic work.
“Rising” speaks to our connection as humans with the outdoor environment, including the water, the trees, and other species. It is designed with ceramic tiles using the same techniques and design concepts as the Storytelling with Saris saris. As in the fabric saris, the border tiles feature woodblock patterns. The tiles were rolled out by hand out of reclaimed clay. Monica pressed her sari woodblocks into the wet clay to create impressions. These border tiles were then handpainted using wax resist technique. The middle tiles of the sari comprise a figurative painting that Monica painted by hand using glazes.
Monica worked with ceramic artist and fabricator Elle Brande of Moonlight Studios in Beltsville, Maryland to create the work over the course of several months. Monica and Elle were colleagues at Red Dirt Studio many years ago and Elle assisted Monica in some of her very first performances with saris. We are thrilled to share this brand new work with the community. It serves as a small-scale prototype for future projects.
It’s Earth Day on April 22 and Storytelling with Saris continues its tradition of organizing a workshop and gathering. Join us for a poetry, earthing, and art workshop at Kalorama Park in Adams Morgan. We will be doing movement and breathing exercises, writing some poetry, and making art on a sari. Workshop will be followed by a pizza picnic in the park. We will be at one of the picnic tables. Enter the park from Columbia Road to avoid stairs. Nearest building is 1851 Columbia Rd NW, Washington, DC 20009. Metro: Woodley Park-Zoo. Buses: 90, 96, 42, 43. Friends and family welcome!
If you have joined prior Storytelling with Saris workshops, please bring with you your folder of materials — journal, pencil etc. Looking forward to seeing you! Please email storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com with any questions or accommodation needs.
This project is supported by a grant from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities.
Image from 2023 Earth Day Rally. Pictured, Lia Totty. Above: Image from 2024 Earth Day Workshop.
Save the date for the opening of “Take Me to the River,” featuring new embroidered kantha works by Monica Jahan Bose, along with saris, works on paper, and video. Curated by Beth Ferraro.
Location: Gallery Y, 1325 W St NW, Washington, DC 20009
Opening reception: Friday, May 2, 2025 from 6-8 pm
Dates: May 2-July 11, 2025. Gallery hours: Monday to Friday 7 am – 9 pm, Saturdays & Sundays 7 am – 7 pm.
Stay tuned for the Paglees show in North Carolina! Link to Review of debut show in Chicago.
Location: McColl Center, 721 N Tryon St, Charlotte, NC 28202
Opening Reception: May 22, 2025
Public lecture by Prof. Melia Belli-Bose: June 12, 2025
The Paglees: Between Reason and Madness
The Paglees is a feminist collective of artists of South Asian origin living across the United States. Paglee or pagli means crazy woman in a number of South Asian languages.
In their exhibition, The Paglees investigate – with fierceness, beauty, and wit – the impact on women of generations of patriarchy, religion, white supremacy, colonialism, violence, capitalism, and environmental plunder.
The title of the exhibition derives from Rosa Parks’ words: “There is just so much hurt, disappointment and oppression one can take. The bubble of life grows larger. The line between reason and madness grows thinner.” (Rosa Parks: Writings, Notes and Statements,1956-58).
Featuring mixed-media works on paper, fabric, and canvas, sculpture, performance, photography, installation, and moving image, The Paglees: Between Reason and Madness, questions and reframes the labeling of non-conforming women as crazy and the marginalization of immigrant women of color. This collective exhibition presents new decolonial narratives that center the reason and wisdom of brown women of the Global South and diaspora, and provide pathways to a creative feminist future. The Paglees believe in working in collaboration with other marginalized communities to build bridges and demand social, environmental, and legal justice for all.
The seven Paglees are South Asian American artists living and working across North America: Shelly Bahl (New York City and Toronto, Canada), Monica Jahan Bose (Washington, DC), Fawzia Khan (Minneapolis, Minnesota), Indrani Nayar-Gall (Charlotte, North Carolina), Renluka Maharaj (Denver, Colorado), Nirmal Raja (Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Boston, Massachusetts), and Pallavi Sharma (San Ramos, California). We are diasporic South Asians with roots in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Trinidad & Tobago.
