Yatreda - Digital Nefse
Art Dubai 2026
Booth A9
DIGITAL NEFSE
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.
Yatreda ያጥሬዳ is a family-based collective of artists from Ethiopia, led by creative director Kiya Tadele, who create digital artwork in the style of tizita—a profound sense of nostalgia and longing for the past. Combining childhood musings, oral history, and folk tales with the rich history and legends cherished by modern Ethiopians, Yatreda’s work invites viewers to contemplate the cyclical nature of history.
In a fusion of tradition and innovation, Yatreda mints their artwork on the blockchain, employing a 21st-century approach to preserving history. This peer-to-peer, shared online record of transactions enables them to immortalize African legends, folk dances, and endangered cultural styles for eternity, reflecting their mission to rediscover Africa’s original self once again. Their art bridges the ancient and the contemporary, ensuring that Ethiopia’s cultural legacy is both celebrated today and safeguarded into the future.
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.
Zewed, 2026
Brass and nickel, 57 × 45 × 29 cm
Non-fungible token of single-channel video
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
Physical and digital pair: $35 000 USD
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.
Sedea, 2026
Brass and nickel, 47 × 33 × 24 cm
Non-fungible token of single-channel video
Edition of 5 + 1 AP
Physical and digital pair: $35 000 USD
The Making of Sedea
Behind the scenes video
The Making of Zewed
Behind the scenes video
BEHIND THE SCENES
Recording is the final step in Yatreda’s process. Long before the camera is turned on, each work is shaped through creative development, costume design, handmade props, rehearsals, and the energy of the people gathered on set. The production often feels closer to local theatre, built through collaboration, improvisation, and the resourcefulness of artists, family, neighbors, and craftspeople in Ethiopia.
In the age of AI, showing this process matters more than ever. Yatreda’s work is locally produced, physically staged, and carried by real people, materials, landscapes, and cultural memory.