Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik is an artist, writer, and educator based in Oakland, Ohlone land, who uses art as a strategy to connect memory and history with the urgent social issues of our time. Her work addressing migration has been called a “joyous political critique.” Invested in research and collaborative practice, including the acclaimed project We Are Against The Wall | Estamos Contra el Muro, she exhibits work nationally and internationally and teaches at California College of the Arts. Bhaumik has shown the Archive of Dreams at the SCAD Museum in Savannah and in “Bay Area Now 8” in San Francisco at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. She is a 2018 Art Matters Fellow and recipient of the 2020 Eureka Fellowship.

People’s Kitchen Collective is a grassroots project based in Oakland, California, that works at the intersection of art and activism with the goal to not only fill stomachs, but also nourish souls, feed minds, and fuel a movement. They believe that good food should be accessible to everyone, and that recipes are a powerful tool for telling community histories. The collaboration’s creative practice reflects the diverse backgrounds of co-founders Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik, Jocelyn Jackson, and Saqib Keval. Written in their families’ recipes are the maps of migrations and stories of resilience, serving as the foundation for immersive experiences that honor the shared struggles of their people. People’s Kitchen Collective believes in radical hospitality as a strategy to address the urgent social issues of our time.

Jocelyn Jackson, founder JUSTUS Kitchen, aims to create food experiences that inspire people to reconnect with themselves, the earth, and one another. Her passion for seasonal food, social justice, creativity, and community is rooted in a childhood spent on the Kansas plains, where her diverse, vibrant family would sing a song before sitting down at the table to share a soulful meal. She has presented on the principles of community nourishment at Court Bouillon in Southern France, and back home in Oakland for the Fusion of Food and Yoga series at Anasa Yoga. Jackson has also collaborated with people and organizations including BALLE, Bryant Terry, Impact HUB Oakland, MOAD, Kitchen Table Advisors, NUMI Tea, YES!, and Late Nite Art. Her inspiring international experiences include serving in the Peace Corps in West Africa and teaching in an ecovillage in Southern India.

Saqib Keval is a chef and community organizer whose work is focused on imagining and supporting new food systems focused on social justice movement building, political education, and accessible community dining. He has worked most deeply on decolonization through food, and spent three years with People’s Grocery, a groundbreaking food justice organization, developing and managing their social enterprise incubator program and food justice fellowship. He co-founded the award-winning Mexico City restaurant, Masala y Maiz, with his partner, Norma Listman.