Monica Jahan Bose, “Freedom (Blue)” (photo by Mark Jenkins)

HANGING CURTAINS MADE FROM SARIS mark the entrance to Gallery Y’s “Take Me to the Water,” a flourish that comes as no surprise. Repurposed saris are among the customary elements in Monica Jahan Bose’s work, which is often collaborative. The Bangladeshi-American local artist enlists contributions from women in her ancestral village on the Bay of Bengal — an area especially vulnerable to rising sea levels — but also from people who live near the notoriously polluted Anacostia River. Among the results was “Swimming,” last year’s public installation near another body of water, D.C.’s Marie Reed Aquatic Center.

Some pieces from “Swimming” surface in Bose’s current exhibition, but this show is smaller and focused mostly on woodblock and relief prints. Some of these incorporate painting and drawing, and several include small scraps of saris. Of these, the most striking is “Rising (with Sari),” which is all green except for a slash of magenta cloth. The strip offers a strong color contrast while evoking the fluidity of both water and fabric.

Bose’s eclectic art is held together by its themes, even as multiple hands and voices pull it in various directions. Phrases in English and Bengali punctuate the imagery, and one sari is bordered again and again by “1.5°C” — the amount of global warming that’s estimated to be sustainable. But the most universal emblems are simple renderings of water and fish, traditional symbols of purity and abundance that have come to represent the opposites or their longtime meanings.

Monica Jahan Bose: Take Me to the Water

Through July 11 at Gallery Y, YMCA Anthony Bowen, 1325 W St. NW. www.ymcaanthonyboweneventspacedc.com/galleryy. 202-232-6936.

-Mark Jenkins, July 2, 2025 in “Discerning Eye” Substack. Full article here.