SUSTAIN: A Public Art Experience

Led by artist Monica Jahan Bose

Curator: Sarah Tanguy

Location: The LINE DC Facade and Unity Park, 1770 Euclid St NW, Washington DC (@ Columbia Rd NW)

Metro: Woodley Park/Zoo or Columbia Heights; bus 90, 96, 42 and many more.

Please bring a smartphone and earphones to experience the soundwalk, which will be accessed with QR codes.

CLICK HERE FOR MEDIA RELEASE: SUSTAIN press release final

Sari Installation & Soundwalk Viewing Dates: June 1- June 9, 2022, open 24 hours

Dedication & Poetry Slam: June 2, 2022 @ 7:00 – 9 pm [at “Front of the Line” Terrace]

Film Screening: June 3, 2022 @ 8 – 10 pm [sit on steps at Front of the Line; limited chairs available for seniors]

Poetry & Welcome Farmers: June 4, 2022 @ 10 am – noon [join us at Front of the Line to welcome the Farmer’s Market]

Walk-through Tours with Artist: June 5, 2022 @ 3 – 5 pm [at Unity Park/Front of the Line]

Closing & Performance: June 9, 2022 @ 6 pm [starting at Front of the Line]

All events free. All events except films livestreamed on Youtube. Dates may change due to weather. Register on Eventbrite to get details and updates.

For information or accommodation needs email storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com or call 202-509-6282

This project is funded by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, Public Art Building Communities Grant Program and supported by community and media partners Boathouse Group, The LINE DC, Licking Creek Bend Farm, Adams Morgan BID, We Act Radio, WPFW 89.3, and Moms Clean Air Force.

SUSTAIN is a collective response to sustainability and the climate crisis featuring community-sourced poetry and art on saris. Made with women farmers from Bose’s ancestral island village in Bangladesh and DC participants of public sari and urban gardening workshops, the saris will wrap around the six grand columns of LINE DC’s façade, and create a welcoming passageway at Unity Park. Other highlights include a soundwalk, poetry slam, and film screenings about sustainable practices and the impacts of climate on agriculture and food security. SUSTAIN marks ten years of the collaborative climate justice project Storytelling with Saris.

Film/livestream: Paris Preston Music & Sound Design: Sonia Herrero.

With poetry, songs, and sari art co-created with women farmers of Katakhali Village, Bangladesh and the people of Washington DC.

Sustain DC team members include: Maps Glover and Kia Green (project support), Timoteo Murphy (installation support) and sari artists/poets Sonja Berry, Sherri Gales, Dominic Green, Mya Green, Lala Forbes, Rashika Johnson, Philip Mecham, Lia Totty, Demetria Willis, Yaunesha Moore, Kat Wicham, Deangelo Barnes, Jumoke Opeyemi,Julia Rosenbaum, Marjorie Thomas, Elizabeth Brandt, and many more.

Sustain team members in Bangladesh include: Moumita Nabila (project coordination), Sunetra (project support), and sari artists/ singers Noor Sehera, Nasima, Shahida, Zulekha, Zakia, Parveen, Hawa, Shima , Fatema, Sarbanu, Aleya, and Rekha

Please support local growers like Licking Creek Bend Farm, which has been coming to Adams Morgan for over 40 years and also has a farmer’s market in Anacostia. Read about their work on environmental and social justice in this Pathways article.

ASL available at all events. Please email storytellingwithsaris@gmail.com with any questions or accommodation needs.