This public art project was installed for two weeks at Marie Reed Plaza in Adams Morgan, Washington, DC in June 2024. All images © Monica Jahan Bose, 2024. Funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Curator: Sarah Tanguy. DCPS Collaboration: Valerie Monfrini.

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.