Karina Yanes: Between Two Groves Exhibition Opening

Between Two Groves, a solo exhibition by Karina Yanes, explores her experience living at the intersection of three cultures as a Puerto Rican-Palestinian-Midwesterner and how stories and traditions transform across time, memory, and diaspora.

At the center of the exhibition is her largest work, All We Ate Was Watermelon, a 12-foot-tall mixed-media sculpture featuring 3,480 ceramic multiples protecting an orange branch modeled after a traditional tatreez (Palestinian cross-stitch) pattern. Surrounding this piece, a series of ceramic wall hangings illustrate and weave together fragments of Yanes’ family history using scenes from her family’s orange grove in Beit Dejen, Jaffa, Palestine, imagery from Puerto Rico where her grandfather worked in a juice factory, references to her late 90s Midwestern upbringing, and elements from her current life in Florida.

Between Two Groves considers what is lost and what is gained in the evolution and mixing of cultures. Traditions may fragment and change, but seemingly mismatched parts come together to create an unexpected, resilient whole.

About the Artist:
Karina Yanes is a Florida-based ceramic artist whose work is rooted in her Ohio upbringing as a Puerto Rican-Palestinian-Midwesterner. She received her BA in Studio Art from Denison University and her MFA from the University of Florida. Karina has participated in residencies at Haystack Mountain School of Craft, Craigardan, and ACRE. She was a 2024 recipient of the
NCECA Graduate Fellowship and was selected for Fresh Squeezed 8: Emerging Artists in Florida at the Morean Arts Center.

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