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 of the Prophet Elijah by Indian Jews. But, as is often the case when I cook in other people’s kitchens, I learned a lot more than just about cooking.
Benjamin’s house is awash with art, particularly her technicolor paintings and multimedia works that combine Jewish and Indian imagery. Her work has been exhibited around the United States, Europe, and Asia, and she holds two MFAs in painting and theatrical set design. She is inspired by “ancient styles of painting, like Indian/Persian miniatures, Byzantine icons, and Jewish and Christian illuminated manuscripts.”
On a Fulbright grant, Benjamin traveled to India in 2011 to interview, photograph, and document the lives of more than 70 of Mumbai’s last 5,000 Jews. She turned these stories into a gorgeous set of gigantic photo collage paintings titled “FACES: Weaving Indian Jewish Narratives” when she returned home.
Source: https://www.forward.com/schmooze/194239/painting-pictures-of-indias-jews/
