Two sisters, who didn’t know each other existed into their adulthoods, are presenting “Painting Life In Pictures,” a live performance that combines theater and art installations.
The show previously made its debut at The Frank in Pembroke Pines in August and now has made its way to Delray Beach to be shown in the White Box space at the Arts Warehouse for two performances on Saturday, Nov. 23 and Sunday, Nov. 24.
The performance is a collaboration between artists and sisters Yochi Yakir-Avin and Lisa Yves.
“I had wanted to create something with Yochi for a long time now, but I didn’t know what until I saw this show in New York called ‘Pictures from Home.’ It was about a photographer, the pictures he took of his parents throughout their lifetime, and his relationship with them,” says Yves.
What Yves saw in New York was a story told by three actors performing in front of photos projected in the rear of the stage.
“After seeing the show, I told Yochi, ‘I’m going to write a play about you, and we’re going to use your art as a backdrop.’”
Yakir-Avin, a Pembroke Pines-based artist, created 12 oversized art installations for the show featuring vintage family photos grafted onto sheer fabric, which stems from her ongoing “Memory Project.”
“For over four years, I’ve been using family photographs as a reference for my work, which led to the ‘Memory Project.’ It is a culmination of pieces I’ve created using photographs that I translated onto different mediums. So, when Lisa started to write, the work was already there, and we just added to the project,” says Yakir-Avin.
The installations serve as the backdrop for the theatrical performance written by Yves, who is a writer, playwright, singer, and performer based in Massachusetts. Yakir-Avin was the recipient of a $10,000 Broward Cultural Division Artist Innovation Grant in 2024 for “Painting Life in Pictures,” which focuses on the first 16 years of Yakir-Avin’s life and how those years informed who she is as an artist.
“I only wanted to do the first 16 years of Yochi’s life because I think those years are an important part of her story. I wanted to explore what her life looked like then, how our family impacted her choices, and what happened to her over those first 16 years to mold her into the artist that she became,” says Yves.
For Yves and Yakir-Avin, however, their decision to reflect on the history of their family through art also came from a place of trying to make sense of their family’s choices and how those choices still affect them today, Yves said.
“I’m 57 now, but I didn’t know about Yochi until I was 40. My parents came to visit me at my home in Massachusetts for Thanksgiving and told me that my father was married before he met my mother and had a daughter, Yochi,” says Yves. Today, something of that nature wouldn’t be considered secret-worthy. But for Yves’ mother, she was fearful of what her religious parents would think.
“It was a religious thing. I know Lisa’s grandparents lived in Israel at the time, and Lisa’s mother was convinced she had to hide the fact that she married a divorced man with a daughter. But, years later, she found out they had known about her husband’s past for some time. So, they kept us apart for years senselessly,” says Yakir-Avin.
Although the sisters missed out on years of connection, they found comfort in discovering that they share many of the same passions, including creating art, which led to this incredible collaboration.
“The beauty of this unusual situation is that we not only were able to finally meet after all these years, but we found that we have so much in common, including that we’re both creatives. So, it was inevitable that Yochi and I were going to collaborate on something,” says Yves.
The collaboration invites guests to experience a theatrical performance told by five actors, which is set to music also written by Yves. The deeply personal story reflects on the complicated nature of the human experience and encourages viewers to find the beauty in the difficulties life throws our way, said Yakir-Avin.
“This story is one that everyone can relate to because it’s a story about family, connection, resilience, and making peace with your memories, even the painful ones,” says Yakir-Avin.
IF YOU GO
WHAT : “Painting Life In Pictures”
WHERE: Arts Warehouse, 313 NE 3rd St., Delray Beach
WHEN: 6 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 23 and 4 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 24. Question and answer talkback with Yochi Yakir-Avin and Lisa Yves following the performance.
COST : Free. RSVP at artswarehouse.org.
INFORMATION: (561) 330-9614 or
www.artswarehouse.org
