“Girl from the Tidal Village” was a short guerrilla performance (duration 8 minutes) by Monica Jahan Bose in connection with the Works on Water 2025 Triennial on Governors Island, New York. The performance took place on the 2 pm ferry from Manhattan to Governors Island on Sunday, September 28, 2025.

The short ferry ride to Governors Island is magical. Even though it’s very brief it reminds me of the 28-hour ferry journey from Dhaka to Barobaishdia Island on the Darchira River. My video installation “Darchira River” in the Works on Water Triennial features a performance from 2016 on the Darchira River, where the local women sing oral tradition Bangla songs and we use water, writing in Bangla, and turmeric to reframe rituals of hope for the river and climate change.

For my short performance on the Governors Island ferry, I collaborate with the wind and put turmeric in the water in New York Harbor while singing a local women’s song from my ancestral village — Katakhali Village, Barobaishdia Island, Bangladesh. The song, “Girl from the Tidal Village,” has the following lyrics translated in English:

The tide goes in, the tide goes out

Oh I’m a girl from the tidal village

My father married me to a family on the mainland,

but I’m always staring toward the south sea.

Oh I’m a girl from the tidal village.

The tide goes in, the tide goes out

My father has a bought me a ferry ticket

to go home for a visit!

Oh I’m a girl from the tidal village.

The tide goes in, the tide goes out

Turmeric signifies renewal and cleansing, and is used in many rituals in Bangaladesh by people of all faiths. The performance speaks to our deep connection to the water and the tides, the hazards faced by coastal communities from rising tides and increasing storms, and the importance of preserving intangible heritage such as language and oral tradition songs.

Many thanks to Jesmin Ara and her husband and Lisa Gold for joining and documenting.

— Monica Jahan Bose, October 9. 2025

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