Current Pop-Up
Tu Ke Bivas, "May you live, grow, and thrive like a little fish in freshwater": An immersive presentation in the Kniznick Gallery by WSRC Scholar Becky Behar
Becky Behar, L'Dor V'Dor, (From Generation to Generation), Archival pigment print.
On view September 4 - September 18, 2025
Framed within the personal, Behar’s photographs resonate with the collective, illuminating how a people live and enrich their lives through cultural inheritance. Tu Ke Bivas originates from a Sephardic blessing Behar’s parents often invoked: "May you live, grow, and thrive like a little fish in freshwater." Through parallel portraits of her mother and daughter, each donning the same dark blue dress, Behar explores intergenerational cultural heritage and “how [her] mother and daughter continue to enact [Sephardic] traditions and rituals today.” The work envelops the viewer in intimate moments, transforming private and familial acts into an invitation for community and reflection. In this immersive presentation, visitors can contemplate Behar's photographs, sit at a table set for Shabbat, listen to Sephardic music, and steep themselves in the rich traditions Behar captures.
In her photographs, Behar investigates the significance of Sephardic ritual objects, highlighting personal connections through portraits and punctuating the series with still life images. Kuvridas kon Kavana (Covered with Intention) explores the body, specifically the hands, as a ritual object. These two triptychs depict Behar’s mother and daughter in prayer. It is customary to cover one’s eyes for the Shema and for the lighting of the Shabbat candles. As part of their traditional role of shaping spirituality within the home, women light the candles and wave their hands three times before covering as they say the blessing. Behar’s gesture of inviting the world to view acts reserved for the private sphere reveals women’s importance in Judaic tradition. Behar marks the dark blue dress as a symbol of shared practice, foregrounding her mother as the bearer of tradition and interrogating what her daughter “will carry forward.”
Tu Ke Bivas is presented by the Women's Studies Research Center and the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute.
JOIN US:
Tu Ke Bivas Closing Reception and Performance by Ira Klein
September 18, 7-9 pm | Kniznick Gallery
Enjoy a live performance of Sephardic music by Brooklyn based guitarist, composer, and educator Ira Klein [ncao9rbab.cc.rs6.net], and a final experience with Becky Behar’s [ncao9rbab.cc.rs6.net] Tu Ke Bivas.
Please Register to join [ncao9rbab.cc.rs6.net].
ARTIST STATEMENT
Tu Ke Bivas takes its name from a Sephardic blessing my parents often invoked: "May you live, grow, and thrive like a little fish in freshwater." I am a Sephardic Jew, descended from the diasporic population expelled during the Spanish Inquisition in the late 15th century. Over generations, my family’s migrations have led us through Turkey, Colombia, and ultimately to the United States. Throughout, we have maintained our Ladino language, Jewish religion, and Sephardic customs.
My photographs explore how my mother and daughter continue to enact these traditions and rituals today. As I contemplate their different ways of preserving and celebrating our history, I consider my own relationship to this heritage and what interpretations my daughter will carry forward. - Becky Behar
BIOGRAPHIES
BECKY BEHAR is a photo-based artist born in Colombia and now living in the suburbs of Boston. Her richly choreographed portraits and still lifes investigate motherhood, the passage of time, and what we carry through generations. Behar began photographing her three children as they matured into adults. Her compositions reflect embellished autobiographical and fictional narratives about their transition to adulthood and Behar’s shifting maternal identity as her children left home. With incandescent subject matter emerging from rich shadows, her photographs are replete with symbols of transience, family, and faith. Behar punctuates portraits with still lifes that mark the present-day. Here, home is an idea, not a place.
Behar has exhibited at national and international galleries including a pop-up exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA), and solo exhibitions with Kniznick Gallery (Waltham, MA), The Griffin Museum of Photography (Winchester, MA), Workspace Gallery (Lincoln, NE) and Concord Free Public Library (Concord, MA) where she was an Artist in Residence. This experience allowed her to tailor the exhibit to the venue and teach photography workshops for young adults. Her group exhibitions include the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts (Providence, RI), Photographic Resource Center (Cambridge, MA), Woodmere Museum (Philadelphia, PA), and FotoNostrum Gallery (Barcelona, Spain). Behar’s work has been featured in A Photo Editor, Float Photo Magazine, Fraction Magazine, The Boston Globe, Jewish Boston, and What Will You Remember?.
Behar has received multiple acknowledgements for her work including being a Photolucida Critical Mass top 200 finalist (2020), a finalist for the Griffin Museum of Photography John Chervinsky Emerging Photographer Scholarship (2020) and was an awardee with the 16th Annual Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers (2021). Behar’s most recent honors include a Concord Cultural Council Grant (2022), and a Combined Jewish Philanthropies Grant (2023). She is currently a visiting scholar at Brandeis University’s Women’s Studies Research Center where she conducts research to develop her photography portfolios.
IRA KLEIN is a Brooklyn based guitarist, composer, and educator from Jerusalem. Specializing in Middle-Eastern music, American folk, and music for dance, he seamlessly combines a lifelong passion for musical traditions with a love of experimentation.
A recipient of numerous awards from foundations such as LABA New York, J Arts Boston, and Mass Cultural Council, Ira has appeared on NPR, WBGH, CBC, Jewish Renaissance, Haaretz, and Americana UK. He has performed with world-renowned artists including McArthur Fellow Claire Chase, saxophonist Neil Leonard, and guitarist Kevin Barry (Jackson Browne), and served as a music curator for Intentional Beauty, the Judaica gallery at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Ira has been invited to present visiting talks and clinics at Berklee, Harvard, Yale, Bard College, Berkeley Carroll School, and the Somerville Public Library. He holds degrees from Berklee College of Music and Bard College, and is a certified K-12 educator.