Monica Jahan Bose’s exhibition “Her Words: Storytelling with Saris” has both a compelling message and a striking aesthetic impact. Monica’s installation of draping saris, shimmering video projections, and handwritten journals at the EMK Center effectively merges beauty with a cause.
She has created the artworks in collaboration with 12 underprivileged women from her ancestral village Katakhali of Patuakhali district. “These women are fighters. They have survived cyclones and learned to read and write, rebuilding their lives despite the great physical hardship and discrimination,” said Monica to the Dhaka Tribune.
The handloom cotton saris contain block-printed and hand-painted words and images created by the 12 women together with Monica. These women represent the hard working females of the natural calamity stricken land who run their families by designing sari. The show also projects videos narrating the struggles of the women. Monica was assisted by Nandita Ahmed, a New York-based Bangladeshi filmmaker, who helped to document the project using photography and video while Monica interviewed and worked with them.
Another interesting feature of the exhibition is the display of the notebooks of these individuals who wrote the stories of their daily life for the last 18 months as part of the project. All the women learned to read and write or improved their writing skill through adult literary classes provided by Samhati, a US-based non-profit organisation that funds an eco-empowerment program in Katakhali.
Regarding the future of the project, Monica said to the Dhaka Tribune: “This is only the first stage. I have a vision to continue the project for 20 years and observe how the lives of these 12 women evolve and how they respond and adapt to the climate change. I want their stories to draw-in media attention so that the issue of climate change and its impact is addressed seriously.”
The show is closing this evening.