Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik

CCA Faculty,  Critical Ethnic Studies Program

TOPIC: “Reflections on the Pencil: From Blueberry to Bronze (Or, Notes on Writing, Criticality, and Belonging in Visual and Critical Studies)”

Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik is an artist, writer, and educator who uses art as a strategy to connect memory and history. Her work focuses on decolonization, the hierarchy of the senses, and the impact of migration. Raised in Los Angeles and based in Oakland, she is Indian and Japanese Colombian American. Sita holds a B.A. in Studio Art from Scripps College, an M.F.A. in interdisciplinary art and an M.A. in Visual and Critical Studies from California College of the Arts. 

Sita has exhibited, collaborated, and cooked in the US, Holland, Ireland, Hong Kong, and Mexico. These institutions include: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The San Jose Museum of Art, The Oakland Museum of California, Southern Exposure, 826 Valencia, Stanford University, The Smithsonian APAC, the Future Food House in Rotterdam and MaD Asia.

Committed to equity and diversity in the arts, Sita has been the art features editor for Hyphen magazine, and a board member at Kearny Street Workshop. She has been a Lucas Artist Program Resident at Montalvo, an artist in residence at Shankill Castle in Kilkenny, Ireland, and an artist in residence at Denniston Hill. 

Sita is a founding member of the People's Kitchen Collective in Oakland, California along with Jocelyn Jackson and Saqib Keval. Together, they produce community meals that narrate our shared struggle and resilience. The goal of The People's Kitchen is to not only fill our stomachs but also nourish our souls, feed our minds and fuel a movement.