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.

[2] Her signature work as a multicultural artist reflects her background of being brought up Jewish in a predominantly Hindu and Muslim in India.

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 work is influenced by biblical subject matter, reflections on gender and an interest in Midrashic process.

In her series "Finding Home", begun in the late 1990s, and in other work, Benjamin colors figures blue.

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

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.