“Blue Like Me”: An Evening with Siona Benjamin

In conjunction with the exhibit “Yearning to Breathe: The Art of Siona Benjamin” at Fordham Univerisity’s Walsh Family and Quinn Libraries, we invite you to join us for a screening of the documentary Blue Like Me, profiling the Indian-American artist Siona Benjamin. Raised in the small Bene Israel Jewish community in Mumbai, India, Benjamin’s art fuses world religions with eastern myths and western pop culture to create vibrant new worlds. Blue Like Me travels with Siona to Mumbai, revisiting the Bene Israel Jews portrayed in her recent Fulbright project. Benjamin is a daughter of Israel, born of India, and a citizen of the world—and that world is blue.

Benjamin is originally from Bombay, and now lives and works in Montclair, New Jersey. Her work reflects her background of being brought up Jewish in a predominantly Hindu and Muslim India. In her paintings, she combines the imagery of her past with the role she plays in America today, making a mosaic inspired by both Indian miniature paintings and Jewish and Christian illuminated manuscripts.