Yatreda ያጥሬዳ
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.
Strong Hair ጠንካራ ፀጉር
STRONG HAIR by Yatreda is a collection of 100 looping portraits which merges the diversity and power of African hair with the blockchain. In Ethiopia, hairstyles are sculptures full of meaning. Sometimes just by looking at someone, you can identify their nation or tribe. Hair can be a social signal and a status symbol. Many of our local hairstyles are disappearing. When we lose a hairstyle, we lose a visual language that may never be repeated again. Thousands of years of culture has created these looks.
To capture a complete view of the hairstyle, Yatreda designed and oversaw the construction of a metal platform with a 360 degree spinning camera arm. The rig was made completely with local materials and inspired and underscore that anything can be done by hand.
