Dhaka, July 2 -- What does poetry have to do with climate justice? How do racial injustice, gender inequality, COVID-19, and climate change intersect? How can community members use art as a catalyst for social change? In May 2021 in Washington DC, Bangladeshi-American artist and activist Monica Jahan Bose, in collaboration with artist and filmmaker Robin Bell, presented a temporary public art installation -- CONCRETE DREAMS -- to ask all of these questions and more.

The installation involved ten 18-foot-long white cotton saris covered with Bose's woodblock designs that were printed by women in Bose's ancestral village in Katakhali, Patuakhali District, Bangladesh along with handwritten poetry and images placed on the saris by the public ...