Siona Benjamin

Siona Benjamin (born 11 December 1960) is an Indian-American artist originally from Mumbai, India and now residing in the New York City area.

Background

Siona Benjamin (Kasukar) is originally from Bombay, now living in the New York City area.

Siona has been awarded two Fulbright Fellowships: in 2010–11, Siona was awarded an art project titled Faces: Weaving Indian Jewish Narratives. The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Financial Times, The Jewish Week in NYC and NJ, The Boston Globe, The St. Louis Gazette, Art in America, Art New England, Art and Antiques, ArtNews, and Moment magazine. In March 2024, her art was also featured in a new book called The Blue Butterfly of Cochin, 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.

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. 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. 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." 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. The multicultural, syncretic quality of her art is underlined in the film Blue Like Me, directed by Hal Rifken.

Depictions of Women Most of the figures in Benjamin's work are women. A subgroup of the Finding Home series 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. 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.

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.