Braids & Threads: Connecting Legacies
Braids & Threads: Connecting Legacies
By artists Monica Jahan Bose and Autumn Spears
Washington Project for the Arts, Dupont Circle, Washington DC
December 13, 2025 - March 13, 2026
Monica Jahan Bose and Autumn Spears were selected for the inaugural project, residency, and exhibition at WPA's new space in Dupont Circle. Both Bose and Spears lean into their diasporic heritage in their practices, incorporating skills they learned from their elders: sewing/textiles (Bose) crocheting and hair braiding techniques (Spears). Their ongoing conversations—across generations, between Gen X and Gen Z—have opened up new energy and direction in both of their practices. This is their first collaboration.
For this project, Bose and Spears engage in a series of conversations—some recorded as podcasts—about the relevance of exploring connection with heritage, mothers, and ancestors. Together, they consider how weaving inherited knowledge into contemporary work can promote resilience.
Using the concepts, stories, and ideas arising from these conversations, the two artist-organizers created new work and a site-specific installation in WPA’s project space using multilingual text, embroidery, braiding, sewing, crochet, fiber art, and printmaking. It was an evolving exhibition and work-space, where other artists and community members are invited to drop in and contribute with their own stories and art-making.
