ART DUBAI 2026

Following the successful debut of Twenty-First Century Akodama at Art Basel Miami, Yatreda, the Ethiopian art collective, expands upon their collection of physical sculptures embodying digital souls.
Without collective memory, a sculpture can be merely an assembly of empty material. Yatreda seeks to transcend this by using ancestral methods that allow the work to carry the memory of the material itself.
Each sculpture is paired with a “digital nefse” [soul], a cinematic video narrative minted on the blockchain, that truly carries the legend, the history, and the soul of the object.

ZEWED: This first-person perspective brings the viewer to the year 1896, into the heart of the cavalry during the Battle of Adwa, a decisive war in which Ethiopia defeated European colonization. As the viewer "wears" this male crown, zewed, through the first-person lens, they experience the psychological weight of the protector. Zewed is an exploration of self-sacrifice. The act of placing the community’s survival above one’s own. The warrior is represented by a black metal bust Atop his head sits a brass crown, a physical twin to the one seen in the digital soul. The crown is custom-forged by Yatreda utilizing the traditional techniques of Ethiopian blacksmiths. By using these ancestral methods, the work carries the memory of the material itself.

SEDEA: Through a first-person perspective, the viewer is invited into the world of the sedea, a communal dance of the Afar people. Choreographed and filmed on location at Erta Ale, one of the most geologically active and hostile environments on Earth, the film captures a delicate balance of celebrating life on the edge of destruction. The physical manifestation of Sedea is a black brass bust, realized through a complex process of lidar photogrammetry and digital sculpting of a female Afar cast member, then forged in metal. Atop the bust is a custom jewelry headpiece designed by Yatreda founder Kiya Tadele, a contemporary reimagining of Afar adornment. The sculpture serves as a permanent anchor for the digital soul, ensuring the digital and physical remains an inseparable whole.