Indian Jewish Artist and South Asian Dancer to Perform March 27

03/20/07

Jewish Indian visual artist Siona Benjamin will join South Asian dancer Ishrat Hoque in a performance entitled “Color Me Blue” on Tuesday evening March 27 at Ithaca College. Described as “an exploration of female energy and power,” this event will be set in the Handwerker Art Gallery (Gannett Center) surrounded by Siona Benjamin’s paintings, which are on exhibit through April 7.

On March 27 Benjamin will also give a gallery talk from 12:15 p.m. to 1:00. p.m.

Painted blue for the performance, dancer Ishrat Hoque will reflect the blue color of the women portrayed in Benjamin’s vivid autobiographical paintings. According to Benjamin, blue expresses “being a Jewish woman of color….Having grown up in a predominantly Hindu and Muslim society, having been educated in Catholic and Zoroastrian schools, being raised Jewish in India and now living in America, I have always had to reflect upon the cultural boundary zones in which I have lived.” Ishrat Hoque, born in Bangladesh, is trained in several forms of Indian classical dance and performs frequently with her dance troupe in the New York city area.

Benjamin and Hoque are the final guest artists in the multimedia Ithaca College series “The Arts of Jewish India: Explorations in Painting, Architecture and Music.” Events are cosponsored by the Jewish Studies Program and the Handwerker Gallery, with support from the Departments of Anthropology and Theatre Arts, Schools of Humanities and Sciences and Music, and Office of the Provost. For more information, contact Barbara C. Johnson, coordinator of Jewish studies ([mailto:johnsonb@ithaca.edu]).

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