Category: Painters

Siona Benjamin lives in a world that is both transnational and transcultural. She was raised as a Jew in Mumbai (Bombay), India, in a region dominated by Hinduism and Islam, each with its creative sensitivities and disputes, and went to Catholic and Zoroastrian schools. Of course, she was a girl in a culture that was…

Portraits of Israeli ladies appear on dinner plates arranged on a tablecloth with Hindu mythological elements in Shirley Siegal and Madan Lal’s collaboration. Judy Chicago, an American artist, created The Dinner Party, an installation art piece that is regarded as one of the earliest feminist artworks, in 1979. The ladies portrayed ranged from legendary and…

A new book, Jews and the Indian National Art Project, talks about how Jews helped make Indian art. A piece from Siona Benjamin’s Rang de Nila is shown. She is a member of the Bene Israel community. She uses symbols from modern India, Islamic, Persian, Rajput, and Mughal art in her work. What: A new…

Amulet for pregnant women and newborn babies to keep them safe. In Kochi, Kerala, India, these were found. Hebrew, Aramaic, and Judeo-Spanish, as well as the Hebrew square script Diwali, which is celebrated by Indic people all over the world, is very similar to Hanukkah, which is a Jewish holiday. Triumph over darkness and the…

I spent a day in Montclair, New Jersey with Siona Benjamin last month while researching a piece for The Forward about Indian Jewish cuisine. Benjamin, a home cook who grew up in Mumbai’s Jewish community, explained how to create a traditional Shabbat coconut stew and maida, a sweet rice and coconut dish made in honor…

Although many Jewish contemporary artists have achieved recognition at the Jewish cultural scene, one such artist is Siona Benjamin, a young Jewish Indian artist whose new exhibition, “Finding Home,” was recently launched at the JCC of Manhattan. Her work (which is based on a Mughal art style) is full of brilliant, unique ideas and elements,…

As a Jewish artist who grew up in India and has since moved to the United States, I focus on my work in cross-cultural and transcultural art. I help you bridge the gap between modern and traditional by giving you the platform to communicate with others across cultures. After the split, some family members, like…

Jewish woman of color: Siona Benjamin’s art shows how she was raised in India, how she lives in the United States, and how she feels about Israel. Blue people are different. The color blue can be found in the sky and the ocean, so it can be anywhere and nowhere at the same time. Siona…

European painters such as Chagall, Liebermann, Pissarro, and Soutine are often connected with Jewish art. Siona Benjamin, a Bombay-born painter whose work incorporates Jewish, Indian, and American themes, dispels the myth that Jewish art is primarily Western. A Shipwrecked Ancestry, a Rootless IdentityBenjamin’s forebears, the Bene Israel Jews of India, have had their history questioned….