Ruth Patir: (M)otherland

Originally created for the Israel Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale, Ruth Patir’s multi-channel video work brings together ancient archaeology and contemporary digital technology to examine the intersection of gender, motherhood, and the fraught politics of fertility and reproductive rights. Featuring digitally animated Iron Age female figurines—based on archaeological artifacts from 800–600 BCE whose meanings remain uncertain but are often associated with fertility—the work weaves together four videos that draw on Patir’s personal experiences following a gene mutation diagnosis and the ensuing pressures of fertility treatment within a male-dominated medical system. Using recorded conversations with various people in the artist’s life, Patir deploys these animated figurines as avatars for herself and the women around her, exploring themes of bodily autonomy, medicalization, and state intervention—particularly in the context of Israel’s state-funded IVF policies. A fifth video, Keening, was created after October 7, 2023, to address collective mourning and rage. Together, the five videos form a layered, poignant reflection on how personal narratives are shaped by political, historical, and cultural forces. This presentation marks the U.S. premiere of (M)otherland.