Painting Life In Pictures

What was once a long-held secret is now being brought out into a very public light.

Lisa Yves, 58, of Foxboro, learned about 18 years ago that she had a sister -- and the now inseparable pair is collaborating on a stage performance that will hit the stage at the Marilyn Rodman Performing Arts Center next month.

“I feel like my life has been enhanced ever since I found out about her. I don’t appreciate family secrets, and I am relieved that it is out in the open now,” Yves said. “My initial reaction was excitement and curiosity. Then questions and anger at my parents for not telling me sooner. It has been a journey, but thankfully, my sister and I are very close.”

Yochi Yakir-Avin is Yves’ older sister -- her father’s daughter from his first marriage. Yakir-Avin grew up in Israel while Yves and her twin brothers grew up in Queens, New York. While Yves knew nothing of her father’s first family, Yakir-Avin was aware of the existence of her younger siblings.

Yakir-Avin, 69, said she learned of her siblings at the age of nine when she received a letter from her father, who had divorced her mother three years earlier and moved from Israel to America.

“In the letter, he wrote that he had twin boys and, a year later, a baby girl named Lisa. From an early age, I knew about my siblings. When I was 16, I visited them for three months but they didn’t know I was their sister. They thought I was just a family relative. When I returned to Israel, they eventually forgot about me,” Yakir-Avin said.

It would be another 35 years before the truth emerged. Despite meeting as adults, the sisters have a lot in common.

“My sister and I are very similar. Even though we grew up in different countries and with different parents, we have similar tastes in shoes and clothing styles. We are both artists. She is a visual artist, and I am a musician. We see eye to eye and everything, and it feels so great to be able to have a close confidant like her in my life,” Yves said.

“When I first met Lisa, I immediately noticed our resemblance. It was at her daughter’s Bat Mitzvah, a big family gathering, deeply emotional and unforgettable,” said Yakir-Avin, who studied visual art in Italy, earning a bachelor’s degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan.

The sisters found they have a lot in common. They are both very creative — Yakir-Avin works as an artist while Yves is a songwriter and playwright — making their collaboration on a musical play about Yakir-Avin’s childhood a natural step in their relationship.

“It’s called ‘Painting Life in Pictures: A Work of Art.’ It’s about family memories and her struggles growing up as an artist with an absent father and a self-centered mother, and not being able to connect with my brothers and me,” Yves said.

The sisters won a large innovation grant last year in Broward County, Fla., and put on the play four times in Florida. This year, the Norton Singers have agreed to produce the play at the Marilyn Rodman Performing Arts Center, which will involve a five-piece, all-female band, eight actors, 10 singers and accompanied by Yakir-Avin’s artwork.

Yves’ roots in music stretch back to when she was 7, starting with piano and soon moving to singing and songwriting.

“I studied vocal jazz at New York University and wrote my first musical play around 1995. It was an adaptation of the children’s book ‘Half Magic.’ I wrote my first original musical ‘Me, Myself, and Jill’ around 2018,” said Yves, who had collaborated with Playwright Craig O’Connor to complete it.

Yves said she is a very big proponent of collaboration, and there is nothing better than collaborating with a close sibling. Yves said she has also collaborated with her brother, Lenny, on songs and their podcast, The Process with Lisa and Lenny.

“We have released four albums of original music. Of course, my brother and I grew up together, so we have always collaborated,” she said.

Yakir-Avin said, “My sister is a highly talented musician, smart, spontaneous, creative, engaging, and fun to be with. She’s the person I connect with most deeply, both personally and artistically. Our communication is effortless and natural; we understand each other perfectly.”

When they began creating “Painting Life in Pictures,” the sisters realized they were not just telling an interesting story — it turned into something even more meaningful.

“Through this collaboration, art became our bridge — a way to fill the missing spaces and understand how time, absence, and memory shape who we are,” said Yakir-Avin. “It’s about reclaiming a shared history we never had the chance to live and transforming it into something beautiful. Something that speaks to anyone who has ever felt the pull of memory, belonging, and love.”

Yakir-Avin hopes to bring “Painting Life in Pictures” to the big screen on day.

“Our story is one that needs to be told. I have met many people who have had a similar experience of finding a sibling they didn’t know they had or finding out a family secret that they weren’t aware of. Before people could find family through DNA testing like 23andMe, they had to rely on the word of their families,” she said. “Now it’s easier to find out, but back then you couldn’t unless someone told you. I like to say, it’s one thing to find out you have a sibling, but to find out that they are also an amazing individual is a gift.”