lota

I suggested that instead of teacups, she use lotahs. Sa'dia laughed, thinking I was making another one of my bad jokes, but when I spoke to her again, she had developed the idea into the installation "Lotah Stories." Both of us had no clue at the time that we were about to discover an underground world.

As Sa'dia began creating her art installation, "Lotah Stories," it quickly evolved into a community art project.

During the project, one of the participants, let's call him T, finally confessed to his white roommate that he had secretly been using a lotah. The roommate answered, "Dude, why didn't you just tell me?" T was relieved, but he told us that he had to spend the rest of the evening listening to jokes made at his expense and constant reminders to wash his hands.

"Lotah Stories" is part of "Fatal Love: South Asian American Art Now," an exhibit at the Queens Museum of Art in New York that runs until June 6.

Most museum visitors don't expect to find art in the bathroom, but at the Queens Museum, whether they are waiting in line, using the toilet or washing their hands, visitors can experience "Lotah Stories." When visitors enter the bathroom, they will find lotahs suspended from the ceiling and in the window niches by the sinks.

I sat down with Sa'dia in her Brooklyn apartment during one of the lotah community parties leading up to the installation's opening.