Please join us for the Opening Event of SWIMMING, a new public art project by Monica Jahan Bose that brings together communities in Washington DC and Bangladesh, speaking to the healing properties of water and swimming and inequities in access. . Curated by Sarah Tanguy, SWIMMING is a temporary site-specific installation of 22 saris and "VideoSoundwalk" at the outdoor plaza of the Marie Reed Elementary School & Aquatic Center. The project 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. (RAINDATE, FRIDAY June 7 - we will send a message if there is rain) .
The Opening Event will include a dedication, poetry slam, and livestreaming (beginning at 6 pm). Artist and climate activist Monica Jahan Bose and curator Sarah Tanguy and other members of the project team from across DC will be present to engage with the public and explain the project. Visitors may add their water inspired short poems and art to a sari. ASL interpretation will be provided. Please email storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com with any questions or accommodation needs.
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. Please bring earphones for the best audio experience. We will have an ipad for people without smartphones.
The public art project has been co-created with DC residents from across the city, including Marie Reed students, teachers, and parents, and people in Bangladesh. The saris are hand-printed with water-themed woodblocks designed by Bose along with writings, art, and poetry by the community, during workshops Bose led over an eight-month period. The two-week installation will be accompanied by public engagement events, including poetry slams and performances, film screenings, and site visits/artist talks.
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.
Lead Artist: Monica Jahan Bose
Curator: Sarah Tanguy
DCPS Collaboration: Valeria Monfrini, Art Teacher, Marie Reed Elementary School
Photography/Livestream: Paris Preston
Marketing design/Social media: Jen Saavedra
Press/media inquiries: Kelly Davidson. Email: info@kellymavenmedia.com.
Funded by the DC Commission on the Arts are Humanities, Public Art Building Communities Grant Program.
Community partners: The Adams Morgan Partnership BID, Marie Reed Elementary School & Aquatic Center, The DC Arts Center, Calvary Womens Services, and Moms Clean Air Force.
Exhibition Schedule:
Location: Marie Reed Plaza, 2201 18th St NW, Washington, DC 20009
Exhibition dates June 6-20, 2024, open 24 hours
Thursday, June 6, 2024 @ 5-8 PM: Opening Event. With dedication, poetry recital, and livestream starting @ 6 pm.
Saturday, June 8, 2024 @ 3-5 pm: Artist/curator walkthrough talk at site
Tuesday, June 11, 2024 @ 7:30 pm: Walkthrough tour and screening “Swimming” short film as part of Adams Morgan Movie Night (at dusk).
Saturday, June 15, 2024 @ 5 pm: Performance
Tuesday, June 18, 2024 @ 7:30 pm: Walkthrough tour and screening short film as part of Adams Morgan Movie Night (at dusk).
About Monica Jahan Bose: 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, temporary installations, and performances. She has exhibited her work extensively in the US and internationally (23 solo shows, five large-scale public art projects, and more than 25 performances) including solo exhibitions at the Bangladesh National Museum and MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art Rome. Her ongoing collaborative art and advocacy project STORYTELLING WITH SARIS (since 2012) 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, the BBC, Prothom Alo, and all major newspapers in Bangladesh. She 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, and a JD from Columbia Law School.
About Sarah Tanguy: Washington, DC-based Sarah Tanguy is an independent curator and arts writer, who believes in hands-on, face-to-face collaboration with artists and the power of art to connect with the general public and our lived experience. Many of her projects have explored the intersection of art with such topics as science, food, tools, and books, inspiring new ways to engage the world around us. Recent exhibitions include At One with the Elements, Reveal: The Art of Reimagining Scientific Discovery, and Traces, in Washington, DC; and Synergy Unbound, the last of an ongoing series at the American Center for Physics, College Park, MD. From 2004-2019, Sarah was a curator for Art in Embassies, U.S. Department of State, where she curated over 100 exhibitions and 12 permanent collections featuring U.S. and host country artists for U.S. diplomatic facilities overseas. The daughter of a U.S. diplomat, Tanguy holds a BA in Fine Arts from Georgetown University, and a MA in Art History from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.