Siona Benjamin

{{Short description|Indian-American artist (born 1960)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}} {{Use Indian English|date=September 2018}}

'''Siona Benjamin''' (born 11 December 1960) is an Indian-American artist originally from Mumbai, India and now residing in the New York City area.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Habib |first=Shahnaz |date=30 September 2013 |title=Blue Like Her: What identity means to Siona Benjamin |url=https://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-and-essays/blue-her |url-access=subscription |access-date=30 December 2019 |website=The Caravan |language=en}}</ref>

==Background== {{BLP sources section|date=March 2021}} Siona Benjamin (Kasukar) is originally from Bombay, now living in the New York City area.<ref name=":2" /> Her signature work as a multicultural artist reflects her background of being brought up Jewish in a predominantly Hindu and Muslim India.<ref name=":2" /> In her paintings, she combines the imagery of her past with the role she plays in America today, making a mosaic of underlying meaning inspired by both Indian miniature paintings and Sephardic icons. She has her first MFA in painting and a second MFA in Theater set design.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Siona Benjamin – Photography – From Motherland to Fatherland |url=https://fulbrightsplitscreen.com/art/siona-benjamin/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825153211/https://fulbrightsplitscreen.com/art/siona-benjamin/ |archive-date=25 August 2021 |access-date=2 March 2023 |website=Fulbright Split Screen |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> She has exhibited in the US, Canada, Europe, India, and Asia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Siona Benjamin |url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/benjamin-siona |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221219151417/https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/benjamin-siona |archive-date=19 December 2022 |access-date=4 June 2022 |website=The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women |publisher=Jewish Women's Archive |language=en}}</ref>

Siona has been awarded two Fulbright Fellowships:<ref name=":3" /> in Fall 2016, Siona embarked on a new project to take place in Israel titled ''Motherland to Fatherland: Indian Transcultural Jews;''<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 February 2016 |title=Siona Benjamin's New Fulbright Fellowship |url=https://jewishartsalon.org/siona-benjamins-new-fulbright-fellowship/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303025412/https://jewishartsalon.org/siona-benjamins-new-fulbright-fellowship/ |archive-date=3 March 2023 |access-date=2 March 2023 |website=Jewish Art Salon |language=en-US}}</ref> in 2010–11, Siona was awarded an art project titled ''Faces: Weaving Indian Jewish Narratives''.<ref name=":4" /> Research for this project was conducted in India,<ref name="NJT" /> and the first exhibition took place in October 2013 at the Prince of Wales museum in Mumbai, India.

Her work has been featured in a variety of media including: The New York Times,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zimmer |first=Bill |date=14 April 2002 |title=Art Review; Femininity Defined, In Bare Feet or Shoes |language=en-US |pages=WC.10 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/14/nyregion/art-review-femininity-defined-in-bare-feet-or-shoes.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=2 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303024628/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/14/nyregion/art-review-femininity-defined-in-bare-feet-or-shoes.html?searchResultPosition=1 |archive-date=3 March 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Genocchio |first=Benjamin |date=18 April 2004 |title=Mixing Colors, Blending Cultures |newspaper=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/nyregion/mixing-colors-blending-cultures.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |accessdate=29 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615191425/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/nyregion/mixing-colors-blending-cultures.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |archive-date=15 June 2018}}</ref> The Chicago Tribune,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mauro |first=Lucia |date=29 March 2006 |title=Arts serve as peace guide |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2006/03/29/arts-serve-as-peace-guide/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615190932/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-03-29/features/0603280318_1_oyster-suffrage-puffer |archive-date=15 June 2018 |website=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> The Philadelphia Inquirer,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Donohoe |first=Victoria |date=26 February 2010 |title=A palette of mixed cultures: Jewish Indian and Pakistani miniature paintings |pages=W.27 |work=Philadelphia Inquirer|id={{ProQuest|}} }}</ref> The Financial Times,<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Schwartz |first1=Amy |last2=Bellezza |first2=Adrien |date=1 May 2010 |title='I belong everywhere and nowhere' |newspaper=Financial Times |url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/44f0d960-5320-11df-813e-00144feab49a.html#axzz2e8a1swb6 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=2 March 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230302234438/https://www.ft.com/content/44f0d960-5320-11df-813e-00144feab49a%23axzz2e8a1swb6 |archive-date=2 March 2023}}</ref> The Jewish Week in NYC<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goldman |first=Julia |date=1 August 2003 |title=Searching for Home |url=http://www.thejewishweek.com/arts/arts_guide/searching_home |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616002727/http://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/searching-for-home/ |archive-date=16 June 2018 |website=The New York Jewish Week}}</ref> and NJ, The Boston Globe,<ref>{{Cite news |last=McQuaid |first=Cate |date=29 March 2001 |title=In Lowell Exhibition, a Fusion of South Asian, American Cultures |pages=C.16 |work=Boston Globe }}</ref> The St. Louis Gazette, Art in America, Art New England,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Streitfeld |first=L. P. |date=2005 |title=Siona Benjamin |journal=Art New England |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=9, 59 |issn=0274-7073 }}</ref> Art and Antiques,<ref>{{Cite journal |date=March 2017 |title=Blue Angels |journal=Art & Antiques |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=33 |issn=0195-8208 }}</ref> ArtNews,<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Strasnick |first=Stephanie |date=April 2013 |title=Critics Pick |journal=ARTnews |volume=112 |issue=4 |page=112 |issn=0004-3273 }}</ref> and Moment magazine. In March 2024, her art was also featured in a new book called The Blue Butterfly of Cochin,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://jewishdiversitystories.org/identity/the-blue-butterfly-of-cochin-a-story-of-history-identity-israel-and-home/ | title="The Blue Butterfly of Cochin" – A story of history, identity, Israel, and home }}</ref> written by author Ariana Mizrachi, edited by the Indian Jewish Heritage Center, http://www.indianjews.org/en/, and published by Kalaniot Books.

Siona's original paintings are available and represented by ACA Galleries in New York City. thumbnail

==Themes== Growing up in India, assimilation was expected in much of her daily life, and so "identity" and "mutual understanding" became major themes in Benjamin's art.<ref name=":2">{{cite news |last=Wecker |first=Menachem |date=3 April 2015 |title=Siona Benjamin: An artist who paints from the East |newspaper=My Jewish Learning |url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/siona-benjamin/ |url-status=live |accessdate=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20221219092559/https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/siona-benjamin/ |archive-date=19 December 2022}}</ref> Her culturally diverse background informs her approach to art. Her work is influenced by biblical subject matter, reflections on gender and an interest in Midrashic process. Much of her imagery reflects Indian mythology in an effort to reveal what shapes both physical and spiritual identity. In her series "Finding Home", begun in the late 1990s, and in other work, Benjamin colors figures blue.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Soltes |first=Ori Z. |date=Fall 2012 |title=Finding Home: The Transcultural Worlds of Siona Benjamin |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/434/article/831768 |journal=Feminist Studies |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=689–719 |doi=10.1353/fem.2012.0054 |s2cid=245664562 |issn=2153-3873 |via=EBSCOhost|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Soltes |first=Ori Z. |date=Fall 2007 |title=Finding Home: The Midrashic Art of Siona Benjamin |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/nas.2007.-.14.173 |journal=Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues |issue=14 |pages=173–178 |doi=10.2979/nas.2007.-.14.173 |jstor=10.2979/nas.2007.-.14.173 |s2cid=162294895 |issn=0793-8934 |via=EBSCOhost|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Ori Soltes, professor and curator, comments, "She applies a skin color most frequently associated with a male--the Hindu god, Krishna--to female figures, forcing the viewer to stop and rethink whatever she thought she knew about that association."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Siona Benjamin : beyond borders|last=Siona.|first=Benjamin|date=2016|publisher=Opalka Gallery, The Sage Colleges|others=Greenberg, Elizabeth., Soltes, Ori Z., Baigell, Matthew., Rosen, Aaron., Sage Colleges. Opalka Gallery.|isbn=9780985890070|location=Albany, New York|oclc=992442467}}</ref> Also at the core of her work is an ecumenical and empathetic spirit that comes from the very core of Jewish experience. Stylistically amalgamating Indian/Persian miniatures with pop culture, Christian and Jewish illuminated manuscripts, and Jewish and Hindu mythology, Siona also brings her canvas characters to life through animation and performance dance artists.<ref name="NJT">{{cite news |last=Wallner |first=Susan |date=20 February 2013 |title=Blue Like Me: The Paintings of Siona Benjamin at Stockton Art Gallery |newspaper=NJ Spotlight News |url=https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2013/02/blue-like-me-the-paintings-of-siona-benjamin-at-stockton-art-gallery/ |url-status=live |access-date=2 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303001154/https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2013/02/blue-like-me-the-paintings-of-siona-benjamin-at-stockton-art-gallery/ |archive-date=3 March 2023}}</ref> The multicultural, syncretic quality of her art is underlined in the film ''Blue Like Me'', directed by Hal Rifken.<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 September 2016 |title=Blue Like Me: The Art of Siona Benjamin |url=https://jfilmbox.org/film/hal-rifken/tsnohnh6sq0b-2o2auq-mkdo7s7kww/ |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625080525/https://jfilmbox.org/film/hal-rifken/tsnohnh6sq0b-2o2auq-mkdo7s7kww/ |archive-date=25 June 2022 |access-date=10 March 2022 |website=JFilmBox |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Marks |first=Josh |date=5 November 2015 |title=Blue Like Me: Jews of India at JCCNV |volume=51 |pages=1, 12 |work=Washington Jewish Week |issue=45 |issn=0746-9373}}</ref>

=== Depictions of Women === Most of the figures in Benjamin's work are women. A subgroup of the Finding Home series<ref>{{Cite web |title=Finding Home |url=https://artsiona.com/paintings/finding-home-2/ |access-date=2019-03-01 |website=www.artsiona.com}}</ref> is subtitled "Fereshteh," which means "angel" in Urdu. The major characters in the Fereshteh series are women of the Bible. However, when men appear in this series, they are actually women in the guise of men.<ref name=":0" /> Miriam is seen in three works. In one, she is carrying a suitcase and walking—possibly out of Egypt—dressed in traditional Indian attire; in a second, she is ill and surrounded by demons, and in the third, she is shown as a Persian angel caught in a spider's web.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=McBee |first=Richard |date=8 October 2008 |title=Siona Benjamin: Finding Home |url=https://www.jewishpress.com/sections/siona-benjamin-finding-home/2008/10/08/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205055948/https://www.jewishpress.com/sections/siona-benjamin-finding-home/2008/10/08/ |archive-date=5 December 2022 |access-date=1 March 2019 |website=Jewish Press |language=en-US}}</ref> Lilith, on the other hand, is shown in three pop art versions. Lilith is traditionally seen as a seductress and a destroyer, but Benjamin views Lilith, Adam's first wife, as also being the first feminist.<ref name=":0" /> In one of the works (Finding Home #74 (Fereshteh) "Lilith"), she is wearing a protective amulet that might normally be worn as protection from her, and Lilith's speech balloon says "A thousand of years have I waited keeping the embers of revenge glowing in my heart."<ref name=":0" /> She is shown with angel wings and a background of flames.<ref name=":0" /> Rachel, Leah, and Esther are amongst others included in the series.<ref name=":1" />

Her 2014 gouache on paper series, ''The Four Mothers Who Entered Pardes'', includes works showing Rachel, Sara, Leah, and Rebecca entering paradise, rather than the four wise men who, according to a Jewish legend, entered Pardes, or Paradise, in the first century C.E.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Halpern |first=Stu |date=2020 |title=Jewish Identity in American Art: A Golden Age Since the 1970's by Matthew Baigell |url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/jewish-identity-in-american-art-a-golden-age-since-the-1970s |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303034854/https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/jewish-identity-in-american-art-a-golden-age-since-the-1970s |archive-date=3 March 2023 |access-date=26 February 2021 |website=Jewish Book Council |language=en |type=Book review}}</ref>

===Tikkun olam=== Few things are more cherished in Jewish tradition than tikkun olam, which translates to "mending the world". Observant Jews practice tikkun olam every day in their thoughts and actions. As Abraham Joshua Herschel has posed when asked, "Who is a Jew?" he replied: "A Jew is a person whose integrity decays when unmoved by the knowledge of wrong done to other people." Through study and reflection, Benjamin has made tikkun olam central to her art.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.artsiona.com/ Official website] * [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/halrifken/blue-like-me-the-art-of-siona-benjamin?ref=live Kickstarter for a documentary about Benjamin] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20130821100156/http://www.flomenhaftgallery.com/siona-benjamin.html Siona Benjamin] at ACA Galleries * [https://jewishartsalon.org/siona-benjamin/ Siona Benjamin] at the Jewish Art Salon * [https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/siona-benjamin Siona Benjamin] in the Feminist Artist Base at the Brooklyn Museum

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, Siona}} Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:Feminist artists Category:20th-century Indian painters Category:Artists from Mumbai Category:Indian women painters Category:20th-century Indian women artists Category:Indian women contemporary artists Category:Indian contemporary painters Category:American artists of Indian descent Category:Painters from New York (state) Category:Women artists from Maharashtra Category:Painters from Maharashtra Category:21st-century American women artists Category:Indian emigrants to the United States Category:Mizrahi feminists Category:20th-century women painters Category:21st-century women painters