Storytelling with Saris: Artivist Monica Jahan Bose creates 'climate hope'

A painting titled "Water (Cyclone)" was the first of Monica Jahan Bose's works I'd ever laid eyes on.
 
Displayed at the residence of the US ambassador to Bangladesh as part of the US State Department's Art in Embassies programme, it depicts a woman swept up by the turbulent waters during a cyclonic storm. It incorporates designs from kantha stitching and is lined by a sari border which reads "pani" and "jal."

The woman in the painting is none other than Monica's grandmother hailing from Katakhali, Barobaishdia Island in Patuakhali – someone who has deeply inspired her. 

"When I started making art about climate change in my paintings for the Water series, I tried to portray my nani (grandmother) as she was - floating and vulnerable but also powerful, because she is a cyclone survivor. She even lost her baby during a devastating cyclone," said Monica. 

Monica had just wrapped up her "Climate Sari Workshop" at the EMK Centre recently when we sat down for a cup of tea. She reflected on how she drew inspiration from not only her nani and her mother, but also the women of her own ancestral island village. 

This Bangladeshi-American artist and climate activist has been dedicatedly creating "climate hope," engaging thousands of people across the globe - spanning painting, printmaking, film, performance, and installation - highlighting the intersection of climate, racial, gender and economic injustice. 

"My ongoing decade-long collaborative art and advocacy project 'Storytelling with Saris' uses this pre-colonial garment as a vehicle to speak about climate change and its disparate impacts on women," she said.

Sari as a medium for 'artivism' 

"I chose the sari as it is associated with women and also because it speaks to sustainability. The sari is something unique that we never throw away. We pass it down for generations. When saris tear or become old, we cut and layer them up and make what's called 'katha'. Sari is the opposite of fast fashion. It is a beautiful example of reuse and less consumption." 

Besides her engagement through art, Monica's background as an environmental and human rights lawyer has also helped her bring about the conversation toward change. 

Monica earned a Bachelor of Arts in Painting from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, with a post-graduate diploma in fine art from Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, India, and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School, New York.

Around 2012, Monica started making woodblocks and ink drawings to design saris with – making designs such as fish or vegetables, or words in Bangla, to address the impact climate change has on farming.

"In 2013, I went to my village and worked on the first set of saris with the women there. From the very beginning, I was interested in filming them and getting their stories in their own words, not just through my art interpretation. These are women who had never been heard. But now their stories have been shown in various platforms and mediums over the last decade.

"In 2015, I started getting Americans to make saris with me. I taught them how to do woodblock printing, and make climate pledges on saris to reduce their own carbon footprint," she said. 

Monica has exhibited her work extensively in the US and internationally – with 23 solo shows, five outdoor public art projects, and more than 25 performances, including solo exhibitions at the Bangladesh National Museum and MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art Rome.

The Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum in Washington DC recently acquired a collection of her paintings, saris, and archives. 

In 2023, Monica was an artist delegate to the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, presenting sari installations, workshops, and film screenings in four venues. 

'Choloman' for change

Monica visited Bangladesh as part of an artist exchange with the US State Department's Art in Embassies programme, which organised multiple events for her.  
 
Her exhibition 'Choloman' was held at Aloki's Shala Gallery from 1-9 March. 

Curated by Ruxmini Choudhury, it was an immersive installation featuring a new three-channel video and 22 colourful cascading saris on the theme of climate change and women. 

"As we struggle to survive in a world devastated by climate change, we need to build community and hope through art. Through 'Storytelling with Saris', I am trying to preserve cultural heritage while highlighting the stories of climate injustice," reads a quote from Monica.

The closing ceremony was attended by Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Saber Hossain Chowdhury, along with five women from the climate-vulnerable Katakhali village in Patuakhali.
 
The film in the exhibition included the same women, who explained and showed first-hand accounts of climate impacts on coastal regions, including crop damage caused by emissions from the thermal power plant in Payra.  
 
The women also spoke directly to the minister and gave him letters that they had written. In the final performance, Monica and the women sang traditional village songs and gave the minister a coconut plant from the village with leaves covered in soot.

Monica shared, "I had one film with video testimonials of women from the village about what is happening to them due to climate change. Another film shows my performance with the women by the Darchira River. It involved rituals with water and turmeric to write the women's wishes for climate change. 

Using art to encourage cultural shifts
 
Monica believes the arts are very important in bringing about a cultural shift in the way we use energy and the way we live. 

 
"People's minds need to be changed before any laws can be changed. Things don't change with the law and the government, until people demand it," she said, noting that such work requires long term engagement. 
 
She continued, "My work includes collaboration with my own communities here in Bangladesh as well as in Washington. As a Bangladeshi American, I have a special story from my origin in Bangladesh, an agricultural nation impacted by climate change. On the other hand, America is a major contributor to the climate crisis."

 
She also believes that collaborative art is healing and gives people hope to tackle the climate crisis.