Ruth Patir – M/otherLand

Ruth Patir was invited to Zurich for a solo show presenting a new installation at ‘Oncurating’ space, curated by Maayan Sheleff. Patir and Sheleff will also co-edit an OnCurating Journal issue ( online and in print), which will serve as a sort of extended artist book, researching topics related to both of their bodies of work- the politics of the female body and the agency of the female voice in the digital age. The artist and curator have been in dialogue for several years, around the development of the works and topics that will be in the center of this exhibition.

At the heart of Patir’s show is the film series Motherland ; A cross-generational 3D documentary that reimagines fertility goddesses from ancient Judean times as real-life mothers, starting with her own. The series, which will be accompanied by 3D printed sculptures and multi-screen installations, deals with the lineage of gender representation, with the relations between reproductive rights and state politics and the place these themes take in the contemporary technological and digital world.

For this upcoming show Patir has been utilizing motion capture technologies and inserted recordings of real body movements onto ancient statuettes- archeological relics used for fertility rituals, currently on display at the National collection of the Israel Museum. Patir releases these figurines from their stagnation, and from their gender role and historical labor, allowing them to explore their sexuality and femininity in a new way.

In this exhibition Patir will show two or three video installations, alongside 3d sculptures and an immersive space installation. The first film is Marry, Fuck, Kill; In it, employing experimental documentary and storytelling methods, Patir uses the bodies and voices of her real mother and her friends- women who have undergone menopause, and are no longer considered by themselves or by society as fertility goddesses. Women who aren’t as enthusiastic as the artist about the current liberation zeitgeist, and in their presence they serve as the work’s trojan horse.

The second work, Petach Tikva, which was first shown at Artport’s “NonFinito” 2020, will be shown alongside the 3D sculptures also from the exhibition. In this chapter, the archeological goddesses go to a fertility treatment clinic, where their story strangely mixes with the invasion of wild animals into the Israeli metropolis. The animals are also portrayed by archeological relics, and their (true) story is heard over the news from the TV monitor in the clinic, providing a menacing voiceover to the waiting female statuettes.