The Kniznick Gallery in the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center now displays a new exhibit called “Interlaced” produced by Becky Behar, a photo-based artist from Columbia. Behar’s artwork focuses on themes regarding motherhood, domesticity and generational links. The exhibition includes still life pieces as well as choreographed portraits illustrating her focal themes.
Behar shares part of her artistic process on her personal website. In order to capture her photographs and create nuanced effects, she works with multiple cameras with different specifications, including the medium format digital camera. Furthermore, for the smaller to medium size images, Behar completes the printing process independently. She prints her images on fine matte art paper with archival pigment inks.
Previously Behar’s work has been featured in both national and international exhibitions such as the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, Massachusetts, the Workspace Gallery in Lincoln, New Hampshire, and the Concord Free Public Library in Concord, Massachusetts. At each venue, she focused on tailoring the exhibition to the space and taught photography workshops to young adults. Her personal website details further venues where her work was featured, such as the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Photographic Resource Center, Woodmere Museum and FotoNostrum Gallery in Barcelona. Moreover, her work was displayed in magazines and news media such as The Boston Globe, A Photo Editor, Float Photo Magazine, Jewish Boston and Fraction Magazine.
Behar’s artwork is inspired by members of her family such as her children and her mother, and examines stories regarding how people change with time and how their roles in domestic spheres evolve. Among her current projects include a new portfolio of artwork called “Tu Que Bivas,” which recently received the 2023 CJP Arts and Culture Community Impact Grant. Behar shared that she will be taking part in conversations and collaborations with her mother and daughter in order to contemplate and showcase her Sephardic roots.
Another portfolio that Behar has ongoing is called “The 50th Hour.” Behar describes her motivation for this project on her website, writing, “Motherhood has altered my perception of time and memory. It gifted me with the opportunity to experience childhood anew.” In this spirit, her grown daughter and her collaborate to create photographic compositions that embrace playfulness, make-believe and spontaneity.
More updates about her work can be found on her personal blog.
