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“Jackson Heights” 2019 36” x 48” Mixed Media on Canvas
If you’ve grown up in a South Asian household, a box of Shan masala is a very familiar sight. Each of these boxes contain a different flavor of masala and a colorful reminder of home for Indian/ Pakistani/ Bangladeshi immigrants in the diaspora. One of the largest immigrant hubs for South Asians in the world is Jackson Heights in Queens (NYC), where I lived with my family as a youngin. I have memories of being dragged through Patel Brothers market on 74th Street by my mom, looking at these unending rows of Shan boxes and wishing we could just go to McDonalds instead. As time has gone on though I’ve come to appreciate these boxes and what they embody.
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Jackson Heights holds a special place in my heart and represents a great deal in today’s America for immigrants of all origins. A colorful destination where strangers in a strange land, some escaping persecution and others just looking for better opportunities, find community, comfort and camaraderie to help them call this new place home. The neon red Halal signs flashing in the windows of meat shops in Jackson Heights welcome you and let you know that in this strange and foreign land, maybe thousands of miles away from home, there is still a place for you.