The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics in collaboration with the Earth Commons presents, When Will the Water Come – an evening of readings, short plays, monologues, poetry, and music about water and our environment, featuring students from Professor Derek Goldman’s TPST/ CULP 2036 Global Performance and Politics course, as well as professional guest artists, curated and directed by Ashanee Kottage, Lab/Earth Commons Fellow.

Location:  1801 35th St NW, Washington, DC 20007 (the old Fillmore School, in Glover Park)

Date/Time:  Monday November 6, 2023, 4:30 to 6:30 pm.  Monica Jahan Bose’s short performance is in the very beginning.

The performance brings together an expansive range of cultural perspectives, theatrical forms, and narratives to explore the scientific, political, elemental, and intimately personal dimensions of water. This multi-disciplinary performance and roundtable event features material from the recently launched We Hear You–A Climate Archive, a global performance project exploring youth perspectives on the climate emergency and the 2023 Climate Change Theater Action a worldwide festival of short plays about the climate crisis presented biennially to coincide with the United Nations COP meetings. This event is also part of an ongoing suite of activities featuring student and professional performances curated by The Lab leading up to COP 28, including the forthcoming conference Sustaining the Oasis: Envisioning the Future of Water Security in the Gulf, to be held at the Georgetown campus in Qatar.

We are honored that the following guest artists and students will share their work with us and join us for a roundtable discussion (moderated by Prof. Derek Goldman and Ashanee Kottage) and reception with some light refreshments at the end of the performance.

Monica Jahan Bose

Jan Ellis Menafee

Nadia Nazar

Chantal Bilodeau – Founder of CCTA

LubDub Theater (Miranda Rose Hall, Caitlin Nasema Cassidy (We Hear You Project Director), Robert Duffley (We Hear You Project Dramaturg), Geoff Kanick)

We Hear You Stories:

Nadia’s story, THE HORIZON

Michael’s story, COME BACK ANOTHER DAY

Rebecca’s story, MANTA MAGIC

Swedian’s story, WHEN WILL THE WATER COME?

CCTA Plays:

Wild Parsnips by Tira Palmquist

la jiao pang xie, shao la (“chilli crab, less spicy”) by Dia Hakim K

Undertow by Keith Barker

A Hummingbird’s Ululation by Aleya Kassam

(up)rooted by Caity Shea-Violette

To request an accommodation, inquiries about accessibility, or if you have any questions/ issues getting to the space please email us at globallab@georgetown.edu.

Location: Entertainment + Culture Pavilion, Expo City, Blue Zone B7, Building 90 (same building as Women & Gender and Youth Pavilion), Ground Floor.

If you are going to COP28 in Dubai and have a Blue Zone pass, please join us at The Entertainment + Culture Pavilion (Blue Zone) and check out my sari installation and all the amazing programming.  I will also be doing a performance for the opening ceremony of the E+C Pavilion at around 10:30 am on November 30th and a multimedia storytelling and interactive sari workshop on December 2 at 4:30 to 5:30 pm.

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, installations and performances. Monica 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 including solo exhibitions at the Bangladesh National Museum and MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art Rome. Her decade-long collaborative project STORYTELLING WITH SARIS with women farmers from her ancestral island village has traveled to eight countries and 11 US states, engaging thousands of people. She has a BA in the Practice of Art (Painting) from Wesleyan University, a Diploma in Art from Santiniketan, India, and a JD from Columbia Law School.

Join Monica Jahan Bose  for an interactive sari workshop during the open house for Hope House in the Arts District.  The event and Monica’s sari installation will take place during the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.  It will be part of Hope House in the arts district and accessible to all (no blue or green badge needed).

Address:  Jossa, Warehouse 45 Alserkal Avenue – 17th St – Dubai – United Arab Emirates

Interactive Climate Sari workshop:  November 30 from 7-10 pm at Open House (RSVP at link here)

Hope House is a “canvas for hope,” a place of rest, resilience, culture and inspiration set in a warehouse space in the vibrant Alserkal arts district in Dubai.  All visitors to COP28 are invited to come and join us.  More details about Hope House at this link.

7:00 pm – 10:00 pm: OPEN (HOPE) HOUSE – A warm welcome to COP28 UAE from Time for Better and celebration of Earth featuring an interactive media opportunity to share your climate story with Imagine5. Women’s Environmental and Climate Action (WECAN) will provide an Earth Dedication to inspire optimistic outcomes at COP28 UAE. *Hope House guests are welcome to bring rocks, soil, and water from their homelands to combine into vessels which will symbolize our collective efforts to make a positive difference.

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, installations and performances. Monica 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 including solo exhibitions at the Bangladesh National Museum and MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art Rome. Her decade-long collaborative project STORYTELLING WITH SARIS with women farmers from her ancestral island village has traveled to eight countries and 11 US states, engaging thousands of people. She has a BA in the Practice of Art (Painting) from Wesleyan University, a Diploma in Art from Santiniketan, India, and a JD from Columbia Law School.

Monica Jahan Bose will be presenting at the Bangladesh Pavilion on December 1 at 3:30 to 5 pm.

The Pavilion is in Blue Zone B2, Building 21, ground floor.

Join internationally-acclaimed artist and climate activist Monica Jahan Bose for multimedia storytelling and art-making on a six-meter-long Bangladeshi sari

Storytelling with Saris connects people around the world through art with action steps to address climate change in solidarity with women farmers from artist Monica Jahan Bose’s ancestral village on Barobaishdia Island, Patuakhali District, Bangladesh. Monica is working to preserve the intangible heritage of these women’s folk dances and oral tradition Bangla songs, which may be lost due to climate change.  She will show images and video and share stories about climate impacts in coastal Bangladesh and the resilience of these communities even in the face of losing crops, land, and intangible heritage.  Everyone will join in drawing and writing on a sari. This hands-on art workshop builds cross-border community and climate resilience.

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, installations and performances. Monica 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 including solo exhibitions at the Bangladesh National Museum and MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art Rome. Her decade-long collaborative project STORYTELLING WITH SARIS with women farmers from her ancestral island village has traveled to eight countries and 11 US states, engaging thousands of people. She has a BA in the Practice of Art (Painting) from Wesleyan University, a Diploma in Art from Santiniketan, India, and a JD from Columbia Law School.

Please join us for the online launch of SWIMMING, a new public art project that explores the deep and essential connections we have to water as our world faces increased flooding and rising sea levels due to climate change. When installed in June 2024 at the Marie Reed Community & Aquatic Center in Washington DC, SWIMMING will feature a “pool” of art-embellished saris, along with a sound walk, performances, film screenings, and poetry readings.  During the launch, artist and climate activist Monica Jahan Bose will introduce the project and then lead a poetry and art workshop where we will create poetry and art inspired by the. healing properties of water and swimming and inequities in access. SWIMMING is part of Bose’s. art and advocacy project Storytelling with Saris.  Started over a decade ago, the project has fostered collaboration with women from Bose’s ancestral island in Bangladesh as well as residents of DC and people around the world.

To learn more and become part of this exciting venture, please register using the Eventbrite link. 

Here is the Zoom link for the workshop on December 13 at 4:30 PM (Eastern time):  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85156753263?pwd=RlRlY0Y1a25HVDR3eTIzUC9TN2xnUT09

If you have joined prior Storytelling with Saris workshops, please have with you your folder of materials — journal, pencil etc. In the spring we will be having in person workshops to finish the saris. Looking forward to seeing you!  Here is a link to our workshop. 

ASL interpretation will be provided. Please email storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com with any questions or accommodation needs.

Curator:  Sarah Tanguy.  Film/livestream: Paris Preston   Music & Sound Design: Sonia Herrero.

Community partners:  Marie Reed Elementary School and Community & Aquatic Center, Adams Morgan Partnership BID, DC Arts Center, Calvary Women’s Services.

This project is funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Please join us for a community workshop to create SWIMMING, a new public art project that explores the deep and essential connections we have to water as our world faces increased flooding and rising sea levels due to climate change. When installed in June 2024 at the Marie Reed Community & Aquatic Center in Washington DC, SWIMMING will feature a “pool” of art-embellished saris, along with a sound walk, performances, film screenings, and poetry readings.  Artist and climate activist Monica Jahan Bose will introduce the project and then lead a poetry and art workshop where we will create poetry and art inspired by the healing properties of water and swimming and inequities in access. SWIMMING is part of Bose’s art and advocacy project Storytelling with Saris.  Started over a decade ago, the project has fostered collaboration with women from Bose’s ancestral island in Bangladesh as well as residents of DC and people around the world.

To learn more and become part of this exciting project, please register using the Eventbrite link. 

ASL interpretation will be provided. Please email storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com with any questions or accommodation needs.

Curator:  Sarah Tanguy.  Film/livestream: Paris Preston   Music & Sound Design: Sonia Herrero.

Community partners:  Marie Reed Elementary School and Community & Aquatic Center, Adams Morgan Partnership BID, DC Arts Center, Calvary Women’s Services.

This project is funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

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 (22 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 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. 

We will be doing workshops and talks and an exhibition in Dhaka and Patuakhali, Bangladesh.  Stay tuned for details.

চলমান  Ongoing

“চলমান” প্রদর্শনীতে শিল্পী মনিকা জাহান বোস তুলে ধরেছেন শাড়ি, চলচিত্র এবং কৃতকলার মাধ্যমে তাঁর দীর্ঘমেয়াদী প্রকল্প “শাড়ীর  মধ্যে  জীবনগাথা”। এই চলমান প্রকল্পে তিনি কাজ করছেন জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন এবং নারী, খাদ্য ও পরিবেশের উপরে এর বিরূপ প্রভাব নিয়ে। তিনি এক দশক ধরে তার মায়ের গ্রাম (কাটাখালী গ্রাম, বড়বাইশদিয়া দ্বীপ, পটুয়াখালী জেলা), আমেরিকা এবং ইউরোপে বসবাসরত নারীদের যৌথ সহযোগিতায় জলবায়ু পরিবর্তন সম্পর্কিত চিত্র, লেখা, এবং আলোচনা দিয়ে শিল্প করেছেন| “চলমান” শব্দটির বাংলা প্রচলিত সমার্থক অর্থ হল, অগ্রসরমান, অনবরত, অবিরাম, নিরন্তর ইত্যাদি, বিশেষ করে যা ব্যবহৃত হয় চলমান চলচিত্রের ক্ষেত্রে। 

তত্ত্বাবধায়ক: রুক্সমিনি চৌধুরী 

স্থান; শালা, আলোকি, ২১১ গুলশান-তেজগাঁও লিঙ্ক রোড, ঢাকা – ১২০৮

১-৯ মার্চ, ২০২৪, বিকাল ৩টা থেকে ৯টা

‘চলমান’ প্রদর্শনীর উদ্বোধনী অনুষ্ঠানে আপনাকে সাদর আমন্ত্রণ। সময় বিকাল চারটা, ১লা মার্চ, ২০২৪।

Choloman presents an in progress snapshot of Monica Jahan Bose’s ongoing Storytelling with Saris collaborative art project, addressing climate change and its impact on women, food, and our environment through saris, film, and performance. The word “choloman” in Bangla means ongoing, moving, or continuous and is especially used to refer to films that are running. Monica has worked for more than a decade with women farmers from her ancestral village in Katakhali, Barobaishdia Island, Patuakhali District along with residents of her home in Washington DC and others around the world.

Curator: Ruxmini Choudhury.

The exhibition will run from 3pm to 9pm everyday from 1-9 March, 2024.

Venue: Shala, Aloki, 211 Gulshan – Tejgaon Link Road, Dhaka -1208

You are cordially invited to the inauguration of the exhibition চলমান on 1st March, 2024 at 4pm.

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 (26 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 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 Japan Times, Prothom Alo and all major newspapers in Bangladesh. The Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum is acquiring a collection of her paintings, saris, and archival materials. Monica was an artist delegate to the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, presenting sari installations, workshops, and film screenings. 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.

Image: © 2018, Monica Jahan Bose, Rising Up, performance still, Miami Beach, Florida; photo credit: Ben Droz.

Please join us for a community workshop to create SWIMMING, a new public art project that explores the deep and essential connections we have to water as our world faces increased flooding and rising sea levels due to climate change. When installed in June 2024 at the Marie Reed Community & Aquatic Center in Washington DC, SWIMMING will feature a “pool” of art-embellished saris, along with a sound walk, performances, film screenings, and poetry readings.  Artist and climate activist Monica Jahan Bose will lead a poetry and art workshop where we will create poetry and art inspired by the healing properties of water and swimming and inequities in access. SWIMMING is part of Bose’s art and advocacy project Storytelling with Saris.  Started over a decade ago, the project has fostered collaboration with women from Bose’s ancestral island in Bangladesh as well as residents of DC and people around the world.

ASL interpretation will be provided. Please email storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com with any questions or accommodation needs.  Register for the event on Eventbrite. 

Curator:  Sarah Tanguy.  Film/livestream: Paris Preston   Music & Sound Design: Sonia Herrero.

Community partners:  Marie Reed Elementary School and Community & Aquatic Center, Adams Morgan Partnership BID, DC Arts Center, Calvary Women’s Services.

This project is funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

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 (22 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 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.