7 things to do in the capital region, including a prized art show and Afro Plus Festival

Putting art on display involves some measure of baring an artist’s soul.

But, over the next few weeks at a Bethesda gallery, Madyha Leghari will have her works and her body — sort of — on view for the public.

The Pakistan-born visual artist, who lives in Hyattsville, moved to the capital region toward the end of 2021. She told The Banner in a Tuesday phone call that her new community and environment transformed her work from exploring language to examining the body.

“I arrived here almost like a stranger in a stranger land,” Leghari said. “I knew not one person and, in a short span of a couple of years, I feel very connected to the community.”

Some of those connections have resulted in collaborations with fellow artists. But larger cultural conversations, including around the Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and her own pregnancy in her new city have inspired some of her latest works.

These are on display at Gallery B, where Leghari is one of the finalists for the Trawick Prize, which honors artists across D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

She crafted “Inhospitable Womb” while she was pregnant and had a friend create a resin cast of her torso. Leghari displays it in the gallery as a terrarium.

The plants within include wheatgrass, a nod toward the creeping pervasiveness of wellness culture and the wheat-growing regions of Pakistan (Multan and Lahore) where she grew up, along with abortifacients, plants used historically to terminate pregnancies, such as wormwood.

“It can host life, but it hosts not a human life but another kind of life,” Leghari said. “So just to kind of underline that mothering and giving birth can look like other things rather than just the compulsory gift of human life.”

Here are other events across the capital region over Labor Day weekend and beyond.

Afro Plus Festival

Friday-Sunday

The three-day celebration of Afrobeats, hip-hop and other global genres sets up at Landover’s Northwest Stadium this weekend. The lineup features some of the most exhilarating artists in the game, such as Wizkid, Chief Keef and Sexyy Red, alongside food and wellness vendors.

Tickets start at $149.

First Fridays Listening Room

Friday, 8-10 p.m.

Brentwood Arts Exchange begins its season of concerts with a performance from percussionist Tom Teasley and Chao Tian, a former Strathmore artist-in-residence who plays the yangqin, a Chinese dulcimer. The duo has staged hypnotic improvised shows since 2018 to blend musical traditions.

Tickets are $20.

Labor Day art show

Saturday-Monday, noon-6 p.m.

The 55th annual holiday showcase at Glen Echo Park will highlight artists across the mid-Atlantic. Attendees can expect to see sculptures, ceramics and other mediums. Other festivities include Saturday’s tribute to dance and music from around the world.

Admission is free, including an opening reception Friday from 7-9 p.m.

Passport to Hyattsville’s Arts District

Saturday and Sunday

One of the newest shops within a cultural gem of the capital region is running a promotion to encourage patrons to check out its neighbors. De Novo Consignment opened in July at 5101 Baltimore Ave. to sell and consign women’s clothing. If you get a stamp at six of nine participating businesses, you’ll get a chance at prizes including a 30-minute massage from Wellness Grooves Spa.

Earthquake

Saturday at 8 p.m.

The D.C. native has been a fixture of the region’s comedy scene for decades. But two recent Netflix specials, particularly 2022’s “Earthquake: Legendary,” have clued national audiences into what we’ve known for a while: He’s a hoot. Earthquake will have a homecoming show at the Theater at MGM National Harbor before he sets off for another tour of the country this fall.

Tickets start at $68.09.

‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’

Wednesday-Oct. 11

Bethesda’s Round House Theatre opens its 50th-anniversary season with the August Wilson tale of blues musicians. The company has 50 free events planned over the next few months to celebrate the milestone birthday.

Tickets start at $81.